illustrate the truths contained in them in a familiar manner, adapted to the tenderness of youth. Thus they are to prepare them for being catechised in the schools, and by attendance on these to encourage them and promote their edification. Parents are to be exhorted to the faithful discharge of this duty, by the public preaching of the Word; but specially at the ordinary period of family visitation, previous to the administration of the Lord's Supper; and also at other times by the minister, elders, etc. Parents who profess religion, and are negligent in this work, shall be faithfully admonished by the ministers; and, if the case requires it, they shall be censured by the Consistory, that they may be brought to the discharge of their duty.

II. SCHOOLS. Schools, in which the young shall be properly instructed in the principles of Christian doctrine, shall be instituted, not only in cities but also in towns and country places where heretofore none have existed. The Christian magistracy shall be requested that well-qualified persons may be employed and enabled to devote themselves to the service; and especially that the children of the poor may be gratuitously instructed, and not be excluded from the benefit of the schools. In this office none shall be employed but such as are members of the Reformed Church, having certificates of an upright faith and pious life, and of being well versed in the truths of the Catechism. They are to sign a document, professing their belief in the Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism, and promising that they will give catechetical instruction to the youth in the principles of Christian truth according to the same. The schoolmasters shall instruct their scholars according to their age and capacity, at least two days in the week, not only causing them to commit to memory, but also by instilling into their minds an acquaintance with the truths of the Catechism. (An elementary small Catechism, the Compendium, and the Heidelberg Catechism, are those specified to be used by the different grades of children and youth.) The schoolmasters shall take care not only that the scholars commit these Catechisms to memory, but that they shall suitably understand the doctrines contained in them. For this purpose, they shall suitably explain to every one, in a manner adapted to his capacity, and frequently inquire if they understand them. The schoolmasters shall bring every one of the pupils committed to their charge to the hearing of the preached Word, and particularly the preaching on the Catechism, and require from them an account of the same.

III. MINISTERIAL SUPERVISION. In order that due knowledge may be obtained of the diligence of the schoolmasters, and the improvement of the youth, it shall be the duty of the MASTERS, WITH AN ELDER, and, if necessary, with a magistrate, to visit all the schools, private as well as public, frequently, in order to excite the teachers to earnest diligence, to encourage and counsel them in the duty of catechising, and to fur

nish an example by questioning them, addressing them in a friendly and affectionate manner, and exciting them to early piety and diligence. If any of the schoolmasters should be found neglectful or perverse, they shall be earnestly admonished by the ministers, and, if necessary, by the Consistory, in relation to their office. The ministers, in the discharge of their public duty in the Church, shall preach on the Catechism. These sermons shall be comparatively short, and accommodated, as far as practicable, to the comprehension of children as well as adults. The labors of those ministers will be praiseworthy who diligently search out country places, and see that catechetical instruction be supplied and faithfully preserved. Experience teaches that the ordinary instruction of the Church, catechetical and other, is not sufficient for many, to instill that knowledge of the Christian religion which should, among the people of God, be well grounded; and also testifies that the living voice has very great influence; that familiar and suitable questions and answers, adapted to the apprehension of each individual, is the best mode of catechising, in order to impress the principles of religion upon the heart. It shall be the duty of a minister to go, with an elder, to all capable of instruction, and collect them in their houses, the Consistory chamber, or some other suitable place, (a number particularly of those more advanced in years,) and explain familiarly to them, the articles of the Christian faith, and catechise them according to the circumstances of their different capacities, progress, and knowledge. They shall question them on the matter of the public sermons on the Catechism. Those who desire to unite with the Church shall, three or four weeks before the administration of the Lord's Supper, be more carefully and frequently instructed, that they may be better qualified, and be more free to give a satisfactory account of their faith. The ministers shall employ diligent care to ascertain those who give any hopeful evidence of serious concern for the salvation of their soul, and invite them to them; assembling those together who have like impressions, and encouraging to friendly intercourse and free conversation with each other. These meetings shall commence with appropriate prayer and exhortation. If all this shall be done by the ministers with that cordiality, faithfulness, zeal, and discretion that become those that must give an account of the flock committed to their charge, it is not to be doubted that in a short time abundant fruit of their labors shall be found in growth in religious knowledge, and holiness. of life, to the glory of God, and the prosperity of the Church of Christ.

177. Work of the Dutch in developing Schools

(Kilpatrick, Wm. H., The Dutch Schools of New Netherland and Colonial New York, pp. 19-21. Washington, 1912)

The following extract from Dr. Kilpatrick's excellent study of the work of the Dutch in developing schools gives a good picture

of what was done in the Netherlands, during the time that country was at the zenith of its prosperity and greatness as a nation.

Among the institutions carried to the New World, few, if any, had deeper roots in the life of the Dutch than church and school. Devotion to the principles of the reformed religion had been, in great degree, the secret of the long and stubborn opposition to Spanish oppression. That same devotion had been the greatest single force in creating the new commonwealth. As a most important means of fixing and preserving the reformed faith, the parochial school had become an indispensable part of the organization of the new church. Interwoven thus with the very life of the church was a school system in which the schoolmaster was an officer in the church, and the curriculum of the school included conscious preparation for participation in the service of the public worship.

How the school came to occupy this unique relationship to the church can here be told only in barest outline, since the account of it would be the story of the growth of the church itself. Even before the reformers could assemble openly in the Netherlands, the first national synod of the Dutch Church, held "in exile" at Wezel, in 1568, had seen the strategic value of the parochial school. Music, it declared, must be introduced into the church schools, of which some were already in existence. Schoolmasters as well as parents must train the children in the catechism. Deacons were specifically charged with "the care and founding of schools"; and schoolmasters were reckoned along with the ministers, elders, and deacons as "public persons" of the church. The second national synod at Emden, in 1571, likewise "in exile," to the same end, required all classes in their regular meetings, to ask of each church "whether the care of the poor and of schools is maintained." The provincial Synod of Dort (1574), the first on Netherland soil, treated schools in yet greater detail, emphasizing, among other things, the careful selection by the church of proper places for schools, adequate salaries for schoolmasters to be furnished by the secular authorities, and subscription to the creed by all schoolmasters. Limitations of space forbid the presentation of all the acts relating to schools of the successive national synods. The Synods of Dort (1578), Middelburg (1581), and The Hague (1586), all treated of schools and of the duty of the church to support them. The great Synod of Dort (1618-19), as the last of the national synods, gave final form to the creed and practice of the Dutch Reformed Church. In the matter of schools, it substantially summed up the preceding synodal enactments. Schools must be instituted in country places, towns, and cities. Religious instruction must be given. The Christian magistracy should see to it that wellqualified persons taught, with suitable compensation. The children of the poor should be instructed free. In all schools only orthodox Chris

tians might teach. To secure these ends suitable means of church inspection of schools were devised. By the time of this synod the church had not only thoroughly organized its system of parochial schools, but

through the requirement of creed subscription had reached out its hand to all educational institutions of whatever grade.

But it must not be supposed that the Church alone was interested in education. From an early date the Dutch had taken an increasing interest in the public control and support of education. In Haarlem the "city school" existed certainly as early as 1461. In the same city, in 1522, we find the burgomasters guaranteeing a salary of 200 carolus guilders to the rector of the school. The Hague in 1536 had a "great school" with a rector and three masters, supported in part by a per capita levy of 2 carolus guilders upon all the pupils in the private schools of the city. To this income the city added for the rector "a yearly pension of four or five great pounds." Utrecht, both city and Province, may be taken as typical of public secular interest in schools. As early as 1522 is found a payment by the municipal authorities to the "rector scolarium" on account of a chorus. In 1567 the city paid an item of 4 pounds for "the benches for the school children in Jesus School." Some years later a similar appropriation was made for the free instruction of poor young children. In 1576 it was resolved by the city thenceforth to maintain the Saint Jerome School "with adequate salaries." Numerous records of instructions issued in the seventeenth

pe

century to rectors and masters of this school give a very good account of the inner working of the Latin school among the Dutch of that riod. A church order for the whole Province of Utrecht was issued in 1590, and another in 1612. In the latter were included directions for schools, schoolmasters, and sextons. Schools of four kinds were recognized, public or trivial, parochial, private, and schools for the country districts. The selection of instructors, the fixing of curricula, and the general supervision were given to the municipal authorities, with varying degrees of participation in control granted to the church. In 1644 the city of Utrecht adopted a detailed plan for the free instruction of the poor by apportioning them among its four parochial schools. The country schools of the Province were regulated separately in an order of 18 sections, issued in 1654, one of the best available accounts of Dutch school management of the seventeenth century. In matters of education, there is no reason to suppose that Utrecht was in advance of other Provinces of the United Netherlands. Before the Reformation public schools were found in individual cities. Beginning about 1580 the Provinces took up the work, making general regulations for the control of schools everywhere. By the middle of the seventeenth century the whole country - rural districts as well as cities and towns appears to have been well provided with schools of various grades, controlled and often also supported by the public secular authorities.

178. Character of the Dutch Schools of 1650, as shown by the Textbooks used

(Kilpatrick, Wm. H., The Dutch Schools of New Netherland and Colonial New York, p. 34. Washington, 1912)

The great purpose of all vernacular schooling, following the Reformation, was the teaching of religion. The ordinary subjects of the elementary school were taught from books the content of which was almost entirely religious. This may be illustrated by the following list and description of the texts adopted for the Dutch province of Utrecht, in 1650.

The textbooks used in the better elementary schools are probably pretty well represented by the list officially promulgated at Utrecht, in 1650.

Het groot en kleyn A.B.C. boeck;

De Heydelberchse Catechismus;

De Evangelien ende Epistelen;
De Trap der Jeugt;

De Historien van David;

Proverbia Salomonis;

De spiegel der Jeugt van de Nederlandse oorlogen;