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The Secession from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1834 Hendrik De Cock

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The Secession from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1834 Hendrik De Cock forever.” These words struck Hendrik de Cock deeply. He could not understand what Klaas Kuipenga meant. BIBLE STUDY: FREE REFORMED CHURCH A spiritual struggle erupted in De Cock’s heart. He had no peace. HISTORY (5) He saw that Kuipenga had something and knew things that he knew nothing about. Hendrik de Cock’s wife was also a converted woman and spoke to her husband of the necessity of receiving spiritual life LESSON 5: THE SECESSION from God. Then an old woman from the congregation brought him a copy of FROM THE DUTCH REFORMED the Canons of Dort which had been ignored for many years now. These articles against the Arminians were like a revelation to him. CHURCH IN 1834 Then, while visiting a neighbouring minister, he borrowed from his colleague a copy of the famous work of John Calvin, called: The Insti- BIBLE READING: Ephesians 2:1-10 tutes of Christian Religion. That book was the means of a change in his heart. He was converted. He understood what grace was all about. He saw that salvation is all by God’s grace alone. Now he un- HENDRIK DE COCK derstood what Kuipenga had meant. From that time on, De Cock preached differently. He preached The name of Rev. Hendrik de Cock is closely connected with the about man’s sin and that the only way to salvation was by the grace Dutch Secession of 1834. He was the first minister to secede from the of God, through Christ Jesus. He preached the necessity of regenera- official Dutch Reformed Church. tion. His preaching changed radically. People heard of this change Hendrik de Cock was born in 1801 and was brought up in a very lib- and many flocked to hear this changed minister. The church in Ulrum eral way. He studied to be a minister and became a very liberal one. became too small. People were gathered outside listening to his ser- He believed that man was in essence good and that man had a free mons. Now they heard something that they didn’t hear from other will. He did not accept the truth of God’s Word. He was ordained and ministers. They heard the old truth again. Many rejoiced in this. preached in a very modernistic way just as many others. Then in 1829 His fellow ministers became jealous. This jealousy was aggravated he entered his third pastorate in a little village called Ulrum in the when De Cock even baptized the children of parents who officially be- province of Groningen, in the northern part of Holland. longed to other congregations but who always came to hear his There Hendrik de Cock had various spiritual talks with a very simple preaching. His colleagues accused him before the board of directors labourer, who received catechism instruction from Rev. De Cock. This of the Reformed Church. man was Klaas Pieter Kuipenga. He complained to Rev. De Cock The accusations became more severe when De Cock also wrote a about his indwelling sin. Kuipenga complained that he was inclined to pamphlet against ungodly books written by liberal ministers in which all kinds of wickedness, but De Cock thought he was exaggerating. they mocked the creeds. De Cock sharply criticized their writings. For De Cock stated that man was quite able to do good and to overcome this he was also accused before the directors of the church. The re- sin. Then the simple labourer, who had been instructed by God said: sult was that De Cock was suspended from his office. He was no “Reverend, if I have to add one sigh to my own salvation, I will be lost longer allowed to preach or to administer sacraments. Some years later he was completely deposed from his office. 1 1. The Authority of the Creeds. The church should abide with THE ACT OF SECESSION her official confessions and act in agreement with them. Ac- cordingly only the Gospel truth was allowed to be preached The people of Ulrum, however, gathered around him. They still and taught and no false doctrines were to be tolerated. wanted to have him as their minister. Then the consistory of Ulrum 2. The Preaching of Free Grace. The church should maintain pressed their minister to secede from the Reformed Church. At first the preaching of free and sovereign grace. That is to say, the he did not want to do that. His people were adamant, however. The preaching should deal with the sinfulness of man and the result was that on October 13, 1834, many members of the Reformed Blood of Christ which alone can cleanse from sin and provide Church in Ulrum drew up an “Act of Secession or Return”. a full salvation. It could be said that the “slogan” of the Se- Thereby they seceded from the Reformed Church which had be- cession was: “free grace”. come a deformed church by allowing truth and deceit to be both 3. The Authority of the local Church. The church should not be preached and taught. These people wanted to secede and at the governed by means of a hierarchy, but the local consistory is same time to return to the beliefs of the Reformed Church as stated to have the highest authority in church life. and affirmed at the Great Synod of Dort. They wanted to re-adopt all 4. The Singing of Psalms. The church should not indulge in the the decisions of that synod, since many of them had been changed or singing of hymns in the worship services but sing psalms ex- dropped throughout the years. They also declared that they still ac- clusively. cepted Hendrik de Cock as their own lawful minister. On the first Lord’s Day after the Secession, De Cock preached on Ephesians 2: 8, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” This text deals with free grace, which was typical of the main motive PERSECUTION of the seceders to withdraw themselves from the Dutch Reformed Church. They missed this kind of preaching within the Reformed The first years were very difficult for Hendrik de Cock. Immediately Church. after the Secession, soldiers came and occupied the village of Ulrum. When the Secession had become a fact, then many more groups of De Cock and his wife were forbidden to leave their house. De Cock people throughout the Netherlands did the same. They also seceded was accused of revolution and had to pay 150 Dutch guilders, which from the official Dutch Reformed Church. They formed the Secession was a large amount. In our currency that would be $15,000. De Cock Churches in the Netherlands, which were present in many villages was also sentenced to spend three months in jail. and towns throughout Holland. Around 1847, that is about 13 years The seceders had to suffer persecutions, and imprisonments and later, the Secession Churches had about 47,000 members. pay heavy fines. They were forbidden to assemble. There was a Other Secession ministers were H.P. Scholte, A.C. van Raalte, S. Dutch law that prohibited any gathering in public of more than 20 peo- van Velzen, A. Brummelkamp and G.F. Gezelle Meerburg. ple. Often there would be more present at worship services. Then the The seceders did not agree with the official Reformed Church on local police officer could disturb the meetings and impose fines upon various issues. Their concerns were as follows: the attendants. The seceders were mocked and laughed at by the people on the streets. They would be harassed. Rev. De Cock was also confronted 2 with mockery. On one occasion, in the Dutch city of Groningen, there school in the town of Kampen. Around 1868, there were already 220 were students who tried to trample him with their horses. One of the ministers at work within the Secession churches. elders of De Cock’s church, being a strong man, stepped forward and There was still not a thorough unity amongst these Secession the students didn’t dare continue their assault. churches. They were more or less independent of each another. In It happened that people from the streets would disturb the worship 1869 many of the Secession churches joined together under the services of the seceders. They would smash windows, or climb over name “Christian Reformed Churches”. But there were still various Se- walls and over hedges to disturb the meetings which were held in the cession churches which remained independent. They were present open air. They would shout and even throw firecrackers in the middle throughout all of the Netherlands. of these gatherings. The police did not do anything to stop these riot- ers from disturbing the worship services. Labourers lost their jobs be- cause they had joined the Secession churches. Several politicians in the Netherlands opposed these persecutions, QUESTIONS: and eventually, after 1840 the situation started to improve. Yet they were still not able to organize schools for their children. They still did 1. Explain how a sinner is saved by grace alone? not have the full liberty they desired. 2. Why is the confession of salvation by grace alone of funda- mental importance to the church? 3. How is faith worked in our heart and life? 4. Discuss what the central concerns of the secession church- EMIGRATION TO AMERICA es were. 5. What kind of harassment can the churches now expect in the Besides this, the majority of these seceders were very poor. The future? economic situation was bad in those days. In 1845 and 1846 there were major crop failures which were considered to be a punishment of God upon the nation.
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