e its establishment. These officers were named Elders
(_Ouderlinge_) and Deacons (_Diaconen_), who, with the Pastor, formed
the Church Council (_Kerckenraet_). They were not chosen for life, but
in this country, as in Holland, for a fixed term, usually two years.
This organization of the Dutch Reformed congregations in this country
agrees, entirely with that of the Reformed Church in Holland, as
described by Benthem in his "_Hollaendische Kirchen und Schul Staat,_"
except that in Holland the pastors and elders alone form the Church
Council; but there the deacons are also admitted to it in feeble
congregations where the number of elders was small. Another feature of
the organization of the Dutch Reformed Churches is that, in important
cases, all who have ever held the office of elder or deacon are called
together to give counsel. The Dutch churches here named were situated
near to our Lutheran people, and they were the earliest formed among the
Reformed or Lutherans, and must naturally have had an influence on their
neighbors. In the Neshaminy settlement were found representatives of
three religious bodies: there were Dutch Lutherans, who were afterward
visited by Muehlenberg, Swedish Lutherans ministered to by the Wicaco
pastors, and in largest numbers Dutch Reformed, with resident pastors,
with whom the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlers coalesced. The Swedish
pastors certainly held services in the Reformed Church, and I have no
doubt that Muehlenberg's services were held in the same church, as the
Lutherans were few and never had a separate building.

The _German Reformed_ congregations in Philadelphia, 1727, Germantown,
Skippach, 1720, Goschenhoppen, 1731, Saucon, 1731, Egypt, 1731, Oley,
1731, Mosellem, 1731, and therefore in general throughout the district
between the Schuylkill and Delaware, were formed somewhat earlier than
the Lutheran congregations in their vicinity. As the members of the two
religious bodies were closely intermarried and often worshipped in the
same buildings, it is self-evident that the earlier organizations must
have had an important influence on the later. Beside this, in Europe,
especially in Holland, but also in Germany, there was a fuller
self-government in the Reformed congregations than prevailed in the
Lutheran in Germany. Their system was, therefore, better adapted for
transplanting to a new country, where there was no connection between
Church and State. The earliest German Reformed