This printing of the forms of unity is probably identical with 1883.09. At the request of the Board of Oversight for Religious Instruction (cf. 1872.09), however, the Kort begrip der Christelijke religie voor hen die zich willen begeven tot des Heeren Heilig Avondmaal [Compendium of the Christian religion for those desiring to be admitted to the Lord’s Holy Supper] was added with a separate pagination. The Compendium (1608), a simple adaptation of the Heidelberg Catechism intended primarily to prepare young people for the public profession of faith, was revised by Amsterdam pastors C.A. Renier (1844–1899) and B. van Schelven (1847–1928), who transformed the seventeenth-century text into contemporary Dutch.

The publication date has been discerned from advertisements in De Heraut. An advertisement in no. 330, April 20, 1884 states that the work will be published “this Monday,” while an advertisement in no. 331, April 27, 1884 states that it “has been published.”

This edition became a very frequently used catechetical booklet in Reformed circles. In 1887 the publisher J.A. Wormser brought out the fifth printing of five thousand, which indicates that the publisher J.H. Kruyt printed approximately 20,000 copies of the forms of unity in four years time. The forty-second and final printing appeared in 1972 (see 1972.05). In the course of the years, improvements (see 1885.02 and 1897.19), a few small changes (see 1887.26), and some additions (see 1895.27) were made.