pastor, at our solicitation, has made to us an entirely satisfactory statement in regard to his case. We therefore recommend to the Synod that the application of the Classis of Paramus be granted.

2. The Classis of Orange requests the Synod to grant dispensations from our entire prescribed course of study to Mr. Jesse F. Shafer, a member of the Church of Newburgh, and to Mr. Richard P. Milliken, a member of the Church of Flatbush. The overture represents that Mr. Shafer is a man of about forty years of age, of good ability, of unspotted character, and a lawyer of many years standing in his profession. He has been studying theology about two years, and has been engaged meanwhile in mission work in the City of Newburgh, under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association. In behalf of Mr. Milliken, it states that he is thirty-six years of age, in good health, and of good natural abilities. His educational advantages have been limited; yet he has been very earnest and active for some years in missionary work in destitute places, and has had much experience in revival seasons, During the last year, under the oversight of Classis, he has labored with the Church of Grahamville with so much acceptance to the church and consistory that they now desire, without delay, to give him a unanimous call. The Classis deem him peculiarly adapted to that field of labor, and urgently request permission from the General Synod at once to examine him for licensure to the ministry of the gospel. Your Committee on Overtures think the grounds for the application of the Classis of Orange in regard to both these brethren all sufficient, and recommend that the application be granted.

3. The Classis of Schenectady requests partial dispensations for Mr. John G. Lansing, now in Egypt, and for Mr. Sydney O. Lawsing. The memorial states that Mr. Lansing has had unusual advantages for acquiring the studies of the Junior and Middle Years in our Seminary Course, and asks that he may be permitted to enter the Senior Class at once. It states that he has the unanimous approval of the Seminary Faculty to this end. On behalf of Mr. Lawsing it asks that he may be relieved from the last two years of the College Course, and allowed to enter the Theological Seminary in the coming fall. It states that he is now doing the double work of teaching and studying, and that his eyes and health are giving out under the double pressure. The Classis heartily endorses his character and

ability. There are many brethren in the Synod who understand both these cases well. In regard to Mr. Lansing, especially, there are the strongest reasons why the Synod should not hesitate a moment; and in regard to the whole application of the Classis of Schenectady the Committee on Overtures recommend that it be granted.

4. The South Classis of Long Island requests, on behalf of Mr. Jacob Whitehurst, a dispensation from study in our Theological Seminary and from examination in the Greek and Latin languages. The memorial states that it has carefully inquired into the history, and into the abilities, natural and acquired, of this brother. Being satisfied with his case, it asks permission at once to examine him for licensure to the ministry of the gospel. Your Committee have heard statements from Mr. Whitehurst's pastor and others, which they will now publicly make, if required, to the Synod itself; and we recommend that the application of the South Classis of Long Island be granted.

II. THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM.

The Classis of Montgomery sends to the Synod an overture relating to the law of the Church upon the preaching or expounding of the Heidelberg Catechism, and to the practice of the ministry under that law. The memorial does not allude to any laxity in ministerial practice, or directly or indirectly complain of or censure any one. Its only object is to secure statistical information. Striking off its preambles, it closes substantially with the following words: 'We, your memorialists, do hereby earnestly request and petition the General Synod to ascertain (through the Particular Synods or from the different Classes, or in such other manner as may seem best) the number of ministers who comply with the requirements of the Constitution, and the number of ministers who do not comply with them, and to report the same at the earliest practicable moment."

In regard to this memorial your Committee have thought much, and feel that while we might dispose of it very briefly by recommending that it be laid upon the table, as a proposition involving very great difficulty, it yet invites, from the General Synod an expression of view upon a subject of great interest to the Church at large. The organic law of the Church is as explicit in regard to

preaching upon the Heidelberg Catechism as it is possible to be. Its terms admit of no misunderstanding, and the requirements in regard to the Catechism are so repeated and reiterated in its formulas as to constitute a prominent feature, and to give a special genius to our Church itself, as living and moving under its special constitution. Historically our Reformed Church is a Church of marked doctrinal character. In every step of the past it has taken great care to avow itself a Church of fixed faith, and has exercised the greatest care over its pulpits to make them teaching pulpits, and over its people to bring them onward as a well indoctrinated people. Every Professor of Theology in our Church, upon his induction to office, is required to sign a formula declaring his faith in the doctrines of our Catechism and in our other standards, and promising not alone faithfully to defend, but even diligently to teach these doctrines. And, in regard to our ministers, no one has ever entered one of our pulpits as a pastor without having signed a formula for his license to preach, without having received and accepted a regularly prescribed call, and without having signed a formula upon ordination; all of which, in unequivocal language, bind every minister to teach the doctrines of the Heidelberg Catechism; and the second of which, namely, The Call, "expressly stipulates" that the called pastor shall "explain a portion of the Heidelberg Catechism on the Lord's Days, agreeably to the established order of the Reformed (Dutch) Church." No minister ever gains access to a pulpit of our Church without having publicly accepted and adopted these formulas. And as if all this were not enough, the Constitution makes the further provision, that, at each Spring Session of Classis, the minister of each church and his elder shall answer to the Second Question of Article VII., Section 7, of the Constitution, viz: "Is the Heidelberg Catechism regularly explained agreeably to the Constitution of the Reformed (Dutch) Church?" And the reference here, by the way, is not alone to the requisitions of the formulas we have named, but to a further provision that "every minister shall, in the ordinary morning or afternoon service on the Lord's Day, explain the system of Christian doctrine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism adopted by the Reformed Churches, so that, if practicable, the explanation may be annually completed, but shall never be extended beyond the term of four years." And to this provision is appended this language ;

"The several Classes shall, at their stated meetings preceding the annual meeting of General Synod, make strict inquiry whether the preceding part of this section has been fully complied with by every minister; and if any minister shall be found deficient, without sufficient reason, the Classis shall inflict such censure as they in their wisdom may judge the omission to merit; and the several Classes shall make a full and faithful report of the result of their inquiries and doings on this behalf to the Particular Synod."— Constitution, Art VI., Sec. 13.

It is difficult to imagine how the organic law of a Church could declare itself more explicitly upon a given point. And the extent to which expression on this point is interwoven into the texture of the whole instrument shows that the Reformed Church has a genius, which is maintained or annihilated as the Heidelberg Catechism and its teachings live in its pulpits and in the hearts and affections of its people, or are by one or the other, or both, repudiated and scorned. And yet, if we look at the facts disclosed in our practice and in the confessions of our ministers and elders, there is a wide-spread repudiation of the Catechism. The memorial from the Classis of Montgomery, which has called out this report, was before its own Particular Synod, at its late session in Albany; and in the report of the said Synod's Committee on Overtures occur these words, referring apparently to the practice of the ministers generally throughout the whole Church: "Your Committee are of the opinion that not more than one-fourth of the ministers comply with the requirements of this call of the Constitution." And, brethren, your own Committee on Overtures know, at least, that, in regard to the requirements of our law, there is a wide-spread, and we think there is even a growing, indifference. Now, assuredly, this sign of our times ought not to pass unnoticed. No action of this Synod can, we suppose, alter the views of any individual minister or church on this subject; but we cannot but see, that just in so far as law can be violated with impunity, and just in so far as the very genius of our Church can be ignored and even contemned by its ministers themselves; and, moreover, just in so far as ministers can be permitted to sign formula after formula, and even accept calls to explicit service, with at the same time not the slightest respect for that which they sign, or the slightest intention to do what they solemnly promise, to this precise extent

must the self-respect of the Church go down, the genius of the Church die out, and the consciences of ministers and people become accustomed to a training which cannot but bring about the most alarming results in the time to come. The Committee feel that this subject involves the historic character, the peculiar genius, the permanence and perpetuity of our beloved Church, and this is their apology for treating it so much at length. If the dispensation of the Church on earth is really changed, or is changing at such a rate as to require an essentially new departure in our church life, let us drop our teaching character, and take on a new genius suited to the times. If, however, the teaching genius of our Church be, as we think it is, called for now as much as, and even more than ever, to meet and bear back the daily growing vigor of infidelity and rationalism, let us cling to and strongly assert our constitutional principles and our traditional position. The Committee propose to the Synod. in view of the memorial of the Classis of Montgomery, and in view of the suggestions of this report, the following action:

Resolved, first, (in reference to the memorial of the Classis of Montgomery,) That we think the provision of the Constitution in the 13th Section of Article VI. sufficient, if observed, to bring out the statistics they wish, and believe that if a constitutional law, looking to a certain result, prove insufficient to secure that result, further legislation generally has an injurious, rather than a beneficia! effect.

Resolved, secondly, That the attention of the churches be called to the requirement in the Constitution, that the Heidelberg Catechism be regularly explained in accordance with its deliverance in June, 1870, on the method of explanation, in which it was not intended that merely preaching on the doctrines contained in the Catechism should be allowed to take the place of reading each section in course and explaining it in accordance with the Constitution.

III. THE LITURGY.

The Classis of Poughkeepsie directs the attention of this Synod to certain resolutions recorded upon page 313 of the present volume of our printed Minutes, and there stated to have been laid upon the table. The Classis says this course was taken with these resolutions by the last Synod "chiefly through lack of time for their consider