inferior courts, are strangers admitted. Business (says our careful authority) is invariably transacted with closed doors.

Since 1828, there has existed a permanent General Synodal Commission, composed of four ministers and three elders. Each member is relieved every six years, and another person, chosen by the king, is appointed from a list of two members nominated by the Synod. This body meets twice a year, but may be summoned at any time by the Minister of Religion. It is not allowed, any more than the other courts, to correspond with foreigners, without special leave of the king. Since the Dordrecht Synod, no ancient synodal records have been printed; but attested copies of the whole are to be found, not only at the Hague, but in the archives of each province. But since 1816, the synodal acts have been regularly printed in a quarto form. We know not whether Mr. Steven has ever found time to accomplish his purpose of publishing extracts from these records. He has, however, digested from these public acts a Table exhibiting at one view the names of all the members of the General synod, since its reconstruction in 1816, and also of the Synodal Commission since 1828.

In addition to this account of the church government, a few statements respecting the ecclesiastical finances will not be without interest to the descendants of Hollanders. These statements, we must again observe, are chiefly true of 1839. At the Reformation, the property of the church was set apart for the maintenance of an evangelical ministry. From this fund the ministers received a large proportion of their salaries; the remainder was made up by the local regencies. During the convulsions ensuing on the French revolution, this fund was seized and declared national property-a familiar and expressive phrase in the history of French depredation. The fund is therefore merged in the state treasury, and hence the whole stipend has been paid by the government. In 1838 the aggregate amount was 1,025,785 guilders. Ever since the accession of the present dynasty the salaries have been duly remitted every quarter by the Minister of Finance. According to Mr. Steven, the maximum salary is about a thousand dollars, the minimum about two hundred and fifty dollars; but country ministers have a free house, glebe, and garden. In some cases the

Consistories augment the stipend. From the government allowance ten guilders are retained annually towards a widows' fund. There are also local associations for the aid of ministers' widows. The relict of a clergyman is allowed the annus gratiæ, or whole year's salary, dating from the day of her husband's death. The same is insured to orphan children under twenty-two years of age. If there be neither widow nor minor children, the representatives can demand only a quarter's salary. For every child under twenty-two, a minister receives from the church funds the annual sum of 25 guilders or florins; for every son at a Latin School, 50 florins; and for every son at a University, and preparing for the ministry, 200 florins.* This last allowance is for six consecutive years. Ministers at the university towns have their sons educated free of expense. These advantages are enjoyed by the sons of the clergy even after the father's death. Widows and children of British Presbyterian ministers settled in Holland enjoy the same favors. This and

all the preceding arrangements exhibit, in our judgment, a wise and generous policy, combined with as equable an administration of means, as seems possible under any establishment. Sustentation without patronage has never been more happily exemplified.

The amount of salaries given above may be compared with a later but anonymous statement in Reuter's Repertorium, for August, 1854. According to this, the average stipend is from 600 to 800 gulden. The ministers at the Hague receive 1,800; those of Rotterdam 2,000; those of Amsterdam 2,500. There are, however, many who have less than 600 florins, or 250 dollars.

The Church of the Netherlands is believed to feel the stress of state influence less than under its old constitution. former days, without having the security of any acknowledged statute, the meetings of the judicatories were dependent on the States of the several provinces. Now, under the GENERAL REGULATIONS, which are given in extenso by Mr. Steven, the Reformed Church possesses a definite code and fundamental

* Twelve hundred guilders or florins are equivalent to about five hundred dollars.

law, sanctioned by the king in 1816; in which, moreover, it is provided, that no alterations can be made till an overture to that effect shall have been submitted to, and concurred in, by the Provincial Judicatories, and ultimately ratified by the There is a regular bureau at the capital for the general direction of ecclesiastical affairs. This, however, possesses no legislative powers; nor does it interfere without consulting those courts which claim jurisdiction in the first instance. In 1816 and 1817 the Director-General was the Jonkheer (something like a baronet) O. Repelaer van Driel. In 1818 he was succeeded by the Baron van Pallandt van Keppel, Minister of State; who was still in office in 1839. From the tables of Mr. Steven we give the presidents of the General Synod from 1816; the names may be taken as indicating the leaders of the Dutch Church for the period ending with 1837. The Rev. Messrs. H. H. Donker Crusius, of Arnhem; W. L. Krieger, of the Hague; and Anth. van Deinse, of Middleburg; several of whom held the chair for successive years. During the same period the professors of theology were MM. van Voorst, J. Clarisse, Suringar, van Hengel, and Kist of Leyden; Royaard, Heringa, van Oordt, and Bouman, of Utrecht; and Muntinghe, Ypey, T. A. Clarisse, Hofstede de Groot, and Pareau, of Groningen.

"The Dutch clergy are an uncommonly well educated body of men. It behooves every one destined for the church to take, whilst at the University, two distinct degrees, known by the titles of Candidate in Literature, and Candidate in Theology. The former rank is obtained. only after he has been examined in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Oriental Antiquities, and given proof of having benefited by attendance on the classes of Logic, General History, and Dutch style. Again, before being advanced to the rank of Candidate in Divinity, he is examined on Natural Theology, Church History, and the general doctrines of Christianity; and likewise he must show that he has profited by the lectures on Moral and Natural Philosophy, Oriental Literature, and Hebrew. The student must attend the Divinity lectures for three sessions. He enjoys much intercourse with his teachers, and occasionally gives in written exercises; but he seldom delivers more than two discourses in the public class in the presence of (sub præside)

one of the Theological Professors. He may then preach before a congregation; but he can be called to a charge only after he has become a Proponent, or been licensed by the competent ecclesiastical court. Before leaving the University it is by no means unusual for the theological student to take the degree of Doctor in Divinity; an honor which is not bestowed in Scotland but upon clergymen of reputation and standing in the church. [The late Dr. Livingston obtained this degree, after a public Latin disputation, from the University of Utrecht.] Though many of the Dutch clergy enjoy that academical rank, it deserves to be noticed that on the continent, whether in theology or law, the title is never, in conversation, prefixed to a minister's name as in Britain. In Holland it is only physicians who are so colloquially distinguished.

"The Church of Scotland, like that of Holland, is at present devising plans for the employment, at home and abroad, of her numerous unbeneficed licentiates. This deserving and important class of men (the hope of every Christian church) is unquestionably entitled to the warmest countenance and support of every friend of both establishments. The Dutch Reformed Church is taking a deep interest in the lot of her probationers, who now amount to 242, of whom several receive a government salary as assistant ministers. They are not licensed till they have completed their twenty-second year. Being then regarded as "ecclesiastical persons," a watchful eye is constantly kept upon their conduct; care is shown in making the people acquainted with their pulpit abilities; and that their talents are otherwise rendered available to society. An official roll of their names is not only forwarded once a year to the General Synod, but is published likewise by authority every six months, in a widely circulated periodical. It is there stated if they be professionally employed as assistant ministers, and as public teachers, or if they have, within the preceding half-year, been presented to a living. Similar intelligence is communicated in a biennial clerical almanac, where their names are regularly printed immediately after those of the stated clergymen in each province, whose court granted them license. Each probationer is obliged to send his address to the Classical Ecclesiastical Court within whose bounds he resides. The

Dutch clergy manifest a kindly feeling towards candidates for the ministry, and, like the community, have a tolerably accurate knowledge of the peculiar gifts and graces of almost every licentiate of their church.

"A probationer, on receiving a call from a congregation, must be guided by the subjoined particular and recent Regulations of the General Synod.

"Ordination to the Pastoral Office is conferred by the Provincial Ecclesiastical Courts, by whom also all candidates for ordination are examined. The applicant, two months before the time of examination, must deliver to the secretary of the Provincial Ecclesiastical Court, 1. A certificate of his having attained the degree of candidate in literature, and also that of candidate in theology; 2. A certificate of his having for two years attended, with benefit, Exegetical lectures on the Old and New Testament, and lectures on Dogmatics, Christian Ethics, and National Economy; 3. A Church certificate [signed as usual by a minister and an elder], of his having been more than two years a member of the Reformed Church; 4. Certificates from the professors in Divinity of the University where he studied, testifying that he has for three full years diligently and profitably attended the foresaid lectures at the respective Universities, that he has preached twice, at least, sub præside, and that his moral character is good.

"No one who has obtained ordination in any Reformed Church abroad, unless he has also occupied a pastoral charge, is allowed to officiate as a minister in the Reformed Church in the Netherlands, till he has been examined by one of the Provincial Ecclesiastical Courts. Before admitted to examination, he must produce, instead of numbers 1 and 2 of the above-mentioned certificates, suitable testimonials, and especially an attestation in favor of his moral character, from the professors in theology of the Reformed Church, in the University where he studied and an evidence of his Church-membership to the effect of certificate No. 3."

The subjects and order of examination are as follows:"1. Biblical Exegesis, comprising a Latin translation of two chapters of the historical books of the Old Testament in Hebrew, with an explanation of the sense and meaning of