The movement of the Nadere Reformatie had certain principles in mind when they sought to bring about changes within the church. These principles included the exclusive headship of Jesus Christ over His church; independence of magisterial authority; the supreme and ultimate authority of God’s Word in the church; and the subjection of all nations to […]

The purpose of the Nadere Reformation was to get a true Reformation, not only in theology but also in life. One had to practice what was preached and that had to be visible in one’s daily life. All kinds of programs to achieve this goal were attempted. Willem Teellinck gave an example of this way […]

This is a brief history of another representative of the Nadere Reformatie. Jacobus Koelman was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1632. He became a student at the University of Utrecht, which was founded only four years after his birth. He studied under Andreas Essenius and Gijsbertus Voetius. The latter of these two professors had […]

The war of independence was still going on in the Lowlands. It would last from 1568–1648. During that time the Reformed faith had taken root in the Lowlands and became the dominant religion. It was during that time, on March 3, 1589, that a baby boy was born in the family of a Dutch Reformed […]

In his monumental book, Netherlanders in America, Henry S. Lucas states that almost every Netherlander who came to America during the 1840s and 1850s carried with him some work by one of the following “old writers:” Smytegelt, Brakel, Hellenbroek, or Comrie. During a recent trip to the Netherlands, I noticed that there is still considerable […]

In the framework of our reflections on the “Nadere Reformatie” and its representatives, our attention will focus on one born in Scotland, although he was greatly regarded by the Dutch as “one of their own.” His name is Alexander Comrie. Alexander Comrie liked to call himself “Scoto Britanus.”  He was born in Perth, Scotland in […]