1887.04

Derde referaat. Wat ons tegenover de tweede hiërarchie te doen staat.

In: Gereformeerd Kerkelijk Congres. Het juk der tweede hiërarchie. Drie referaten, op den 11den Januari 1887 in “Frascati” voorgedragen door Dr. F.L. Rutgers, Jhr. Mr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman en Dr. A. Kuyper.

Amsterdam, J.A. Wormser 1887 (Amsterdam, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomdrukkerij), pp. [29]– 46.

After the opening (see 1887.08) of the four-day Congress of the Reformed Church (see 1887.01), three lectures were held to elaborate upon each of the three proposed resolutions (see 1887.03). The three resolutions were adopted by the congress almost without discussion and the collection of lectures was published on January 12, 1887—just one day after they had been presented and adopted.

In his lecture, Kuyper puts forward, elucidates, and elaborates upon the concluding resolution. He also identifies and assesses possible objections. He argues that the whole church should throw off the yoke of the “second hierarchy,” following the example of the sixteenth-century Reformers, who threw off the “first hierarchy” of the Roman Catholic Church. Kuyper anticipates that by humbling themselves and looking expectantly to the Lord, the participants in the congress will become the catalyst for the liberation of the church across the nation. The third resolution was supplemented by an amendment submitted by W. van den Bergh.