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

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come to church every night -- to listen to an exposition of the infallible Word of God. Then heasked all in the pews to lift up their hearts to God, and to pray as the Spirit moved.This practice speedily spread to most of the other pulpits in the land. It has become thecharacteristic and peculiar feature of the Calvinism of the South African Churches. I could wishwith all of my heart that this feature would be exported to every church in the whole world. For itsblessings are untold. No one then ever spoke in tongues in these South African Reformed Churches.But after the day of Pentecost was commemorated each year, there has been a deepening work ofthe Spirit of God in the hearts of almost all believers who had attended the services. Indeed, therehas also been much spin-off, even into the lives of the non-churchgoers of the land -- through theircontact with those who had attended these services.Andrew Murray also became a great power in education in South Africa. He got very muchinvolved in the christianisation of the school system (that was then being de-christianised underBritish control). Indeed, he promoted new life in it -- to the extent to which he was able.He also became very concerned about the social welfare services. He felt they were not being donechristianly enough in South Africa. So, in his preaching and in his practice, he got young people tobecome more involved in social welfare. Indeed, he established Huguenot College in his town ofWellington. It is still operative today, and offers courses to train not only Missionaries butespecially Social Workers -- to help the poor and the needy, and to rehabilitate people.This is one of the greatest factors why the Reformed Churches of South Africa today are involvedto such an extraordinary degree in medical work, in care of unwed mothers and orphans, and inoperating homes for retarded children and suchlike. This is regarded as a vital diaconal work of theChurch of Jesus Christ. For if this work is not being done -- and if all we are doing is telling peoplehow to be saved in a vacuum (but no concrete expression is being given to the ministry of mercy bythe Church as an institution in the world) -- then we are very little more than sounding brasses andtinkling cymbals. All of this, I trace back especially to the work of this godly man, AndrewMurray.He was also concerned about the inadequate extent to which the Reformed people were readingtheir Bibles. So he pioneered a system of daily readings to the Bible called "Uit die Beek" (alias"From the Brook"). This was printed up, and copies blanketed the land. People were encouraged toread their Bible and meditate every day. This also led to the creation and establishment of the SouthAfrican Bible and Prayer Association, which became a powerful instrument in the hand of the Lordto sustain this true Holy Ghost revival.Andrew Murray had many sons and descendants, nearly all of them being good Christians --something like the descendants of Jonathan Edwards in the United States. Many became Preachersor Ministers and Missionaries. Even my own Professor of Philosophy at the University of CapeTown (under whom I wrote my M.A.) -- Professor Andrew H. Murray -- is a descendant of Rev.Dr. Andrew Murray.Dr. Andrew Murray, in the English-speaking world, is best known for those of his writings thathave been translated into English -- nearly all of them of a devotional nature. Such include workssuch as Abide in Christ; Absolute Surrender; The Full Blessing of Pentecost; The Holiest of All;Holy in Christ; How to Raise Your Children for Christ; Humility; With Jesus in the School ofPrayer; The Inner Chamber; The Master's Indwelling; The Spirit of Christ; The Spiritual Life; andWaiting Upon God.Yet we need to know that he was also a great expositor of the Word of God. He wrote a tremendous
ook on Hebrews. But his greatest written achievement was perhaps his massive work on theHeidelberg Catechism (of the German Reformed Church). To my knowledge, this massive workhas never been translated out of Afrikaans. Today it is unobtainable, even in Afrikaans. It sells outrapidly whenever it is reprinted. Oh, that we could get that work translated, particularly intoEnglish!I would like to close out on Andrew Murray with three powerful quotations from his book WithChrist in the School of Prayer. Just listen to these words: "It is in very deed God's purpose that thefulfilment of His eternal purpose and the coming of His Kingdom should depend on those of Hispeople who, abiding in Christ, are ready to take up their positions in Him their Head -- the GreatPriest-King -- and in their prayers are bold enough to say what they will that their God should do."As image bearer and representative of God on earth, redeemed man has by his prayers todetermine the history of this earth. Man was created and has now again been redeemed to pray, andby his prayer to have dominion over the earth and the sea and the sky and over all things in them tothe glory of God."Lord Jesus, it is in Thee that the Father hath again crowned man with glory and honour andopened the way for us to be what He would have us be. O Lord, have mercy on Thy people - andvisit Thine heritage! Work mightily in Thy Church, and teach Thy believing disciples to go forth intheir royal priesthood and in the power of prayer to which Thou hast given such wonderfulpromises -- to serve Thy kingdom; to have rule over the nations; and to make the Name of Godglorious in the earth!"As far as I know, it was Murray who pioneered the idea of subjugating the universe specificallythrough the agency of prayer. Here there is tremendous emphasis on the priesthood of all believers-- as one of the chief tools in bringing about the triumph of the Gospel throughout the world.From 1850 to 1860 quite a struggle took place in the Reformed churches of South Africa againstliberalism. I guess you can say it started in 1852 -- when Reformed people in South Africa ofColoured skin-colour sent a petition to the General Assembly -- to be allowed to separate from theWhite churches and to congregate by themselves in their own churches. A lot of the preaching, theyfelt -- then delivered by White Ministers -- was unsuitable for their needs. After a lot of discussionat the General Assembly, the predominantly White General Assembly acceded to the request ofthese Coloured people. So a new denomination was launched -- the Coloured Reformed Churches(N.G.S.K.). Confederately, however, it remained loosely linked to the White Reformed Churches.The ferment continued. In 1857, some of the Reformed Churches seceded and formed a new and amuch smaller denomination. It is the one that later pioneered the establishment of PotchefstroomUniversity for Christian Higher Education. As far as I can determine, the chief concerns in thatchurch-split -- and this was the first time that the Church had ever split in South Africa -- was thatthese brethren believed that only one cup should be used at the Lord's Table. Largely for reasons ofhygiene, the General Assembly had decided that little glasses would be instituted. But thesecessionists felt that this was a departure from the essence of the sacrament. Also, a larger numberof godly and majestic hymns were then beginning to be used. However, the group that left werethen exclusive psalm-singers - although not anti-instrumentalists.Shortly after this, some other congregations left the Reformed Church General Assembly -- onaccount of the liberalism of about five preachers in the Church, and the slowness of the GeneralAssembly (committed to due process of law) in dealing effectively with this matter.So autonomous Reformed congregations arose at places like Tulbagh, Hanover, Aliwal North and
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THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERSA Brief His
Page 3 and 4: God richly bless the following lect
Page 5 and 6: There have always been, and always
Page 7 and 8: But the only one they both appeal t
Page 9 and 10: Now Zuidema was a very great Dutch
Page 11 and 12: Dutch churches at the Synod of Dord
Page 13 and 14: station -- to help the Dutch ships
Page 15 and 16: It is a country dedicated to freedo
Page 17 and 18: 1760 -- there was more and more dis
Page 19 and 20: with the Dutch. Many moved farther
Page 21 and 22: said: "The British have placed our
Page 23 and 24: financed by White money. It is buil
Page 25 and 26: Famous Boer Generals, left to right
Page 27 and 28: Three: Unannihilated: the Resurrect
Page 29 and 30: (who had arrived in the country onl
Page 31 and 32: of success.I may add that White Sou
Page 33 and 34: General Beyers felt that those text
Page 35 and 36: Balfour Declaration. The gist of it
Page 37 and 38: Africa; treks on into the land both
Page 39 and 40: Four: The Eschatology of Victory in
Page 41 and 42: ide -- to use the instrumentality o
Page 43 and 44: Christian National Calvinist Public
Page 45 and 46: through constitutional process it h
Page 47 and 48: I guess the best way to describe Sm
Page 49 and 50: He was followed after his assassina
Page 51 and 52: So the Scots came. I am going to sp
Page 53: the Reformed Church in South Africa
Page 57 and 58: At that point, Du Plessis enquired
Page 59 and 60: Yet quite apart from this high view
Page 61 and 62: One last point. There is a tremendo
Page 63 and 64: African Republic in 1902, the Cape
Page 65 and 66: One of the most important Calvinist
Page 67 and 68: Pellissier, who wrote on music and
Page 69 and 70: perspective -- even while he minist
Page 71 and 72: ever encountered by the Whites in S
Page 73 and 74: Now the United States does not need
Page 75 and 76: majority of the White citizens are
Page 77 and 78: Now you will not find in any of Sto
Page 79 and 80: Finally, Stoker argues that the so-
Page 81 and 82: This then brings Stoker to another
Page 83 and 84: This Brummer just referred to, is a
Page 85 and 86: Man was to rejoice in this nature (
Page 87 and 88: enhanced. For, in the present, man
Page 89 and 90: he declared, riddled with the ungod
Page 91 and 92: Van der Waal is a very brilliant So
Page 93 and 94: World War II when he was hiding fro
Page 95 and 96: The Professor of Philosophy -- or I
Page 97 and 98: glory.There are also Christian psyc
Page 99 and 100: Then there are Christian criminolog
Page 101 and 102: Massachusetts at Gordon- Conwell fo
Page 103 and 104: well known -- is being pioneered in
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people in South Africa. The South A
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nature and of human culture (Prover
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The parousia of Jesus Christ will i
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more and more christianised. Later
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