THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

It is a country dedicated to freedom -- from Europe; freedom from the French Revolution; freedomfrom the colonial interference of Britain, Holland, and France. It has been free, progressively, since1910 -- and especially since it became a Republic in 1961.It is country best described in the words of the great Calvinist poet and Bible translator, Totius. Hesaw it as a country constantly outgrowing itself, as the White man moves further and further northfrom the southern tip and into the arid and barren zones at the centre of Southern Africa -- movingever farther away from its European womb.Yet it is a country which roots itself firmly in Calvinism -- historic, sixteenth-century Calvinism --with every step it takes (even though the rest of the world may abandon it). It is a country largelybarren, stony, rugged, grassless, and sandy, with just a solitary tree here and there --- as civilisationexpands more and more into its barren womb.Declares the Afrikaans poet Totius in his poem The Afrikaner's Trek: 'The White child treks intoSouth Africa; treks on into the land both wide and far; as far as he can see, until the night. Andfarther still, when the next dawn gives light. Trek on, we're not yet far enough! Let's trek! How far?As far as God would have us trek!"Two:Arikanerdom's Growth -- till her "Death" in 1902We have previously dealt with the roots of South African Afrikaner thought. We now proceed tothe fruits of Calvinism in South Africa. We start with the eschatology of victory in the history ofthe Afrikaner from 1652 through 1902. There is a lot that could be said here, so we shall have torestrict ourselves only to some of the highlights.As we pointed out, in 1652 Dr. Johan van Riebeeck MD knelt down on the beach near the laterCape Town -- bringing the first colonists with him, and praying that "Thy true Reformed Christiandoctrine may be promulgated and disseminated throughout the land." On the ship, he brought withhim some Preachers and some special laymen to comfort the sick (the "Sieketroosters"). Just asPieter Stuyvesant went to New York and established the Dutch Reformed Church -- so did Pietervan der Stal, the first Preacher, arrive in South Africa. He established the first ReformedCongregation at the Cape -- on behalf of, and answerable to, the Presbytery of Amsterdam.Between 1700 and 1800, the colonists began to take root. The Dutch-Germans arrived in 1652. TheFrench Huguenots started pouring in after 1688. More Dutchman and especially more Germansarrived round about 1700. The colony took root. For the first time, we encounter a record of aWhite South African who truly knew his identity. When asked what he was, he said, "Ek is 'nAfrikaner," (that is, "I am an Afrikaner")Round about 1700, we find many native White South Africans claiming to be Afrikaners. The wordAfrikaner, of course, means one who comes from Africa. It is very interesting that White people inAfrica were calling themselves Africans -- long before any Black people in Africa had even heardthe word "African" (let alone knew what it means)!In 1700 and in the subsequent years, we find the native South African Whites for the first timebeginning to struggle against the authoritarianism emanating from far-away Holland. In the UnitedStates, after a couple of generations there was a native-born White American population whichbegan to feel distant from England. The British government got out of touch with what washappening in America --so an American consciousness began to develop amongst the American