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

At that point, Du Plessis enquired about his salary. The General Assembly Moderator, Rev. Hugo,said that if necessary they would pay it to him for the rest of his life. Du Plessis insisted that hewould then go on teaching at the Seminary. But the General Assembly would not permit that.Thereupon Du Plessis took the Reformed Church General Assembly to the secular courts. Hedemanded the right to teach, in exchange for receiving his guaranteed salary. This went right up tothe Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. But the final opinion of the highestcourt in the land was that if the Church wanted to give him money for doing nothing, there is noway he could demand to render her work in return for that money.So that was that. It is the closest that the Reformed Church has ever come, in its 320-year existencein South Africa, to being split by liberalism.The Reformed Church of South Africa today is, I would say, in a healthy condition. It is a veryevangelical and very missionary-minded Church. Indeed, it is a Church that is becomingincreasingly Reformed. In it's preaching, it is becoming ever more relevant -- in addressing itselfeven to the conquest of the non-ecclesiastical areas of life.I would now like to say a few words about a godly leader known as Rev. Dr. John Daniel Kestell.Kestell was Chief Chaplain in the South African Republican Army in the Anglo-Boer War againstthe British. His own father was born in England, but he was born in South Africa. He thoroughlyassociated himself with the Afrikaner cause. He was particularly concerned, after South Africa lostthe war, about the "Poor White" problem and the economic uprooting of his people. And so heestablished an organisation known as the "Reddingsdaadbond" -- the "Association forAccomplishing the Deed of Salvation."This was an economic organisation which would try to re-educate the defeated Afrikaner people,especially in the field of economics, to teach them pride again. It strove to show them how to riseup from their economic defeat, and to become economically self-sufficient.It involved establishing many towns on the edge of the desert, to which penniless "Poor Whites"who had lost everything during the war were geographically transported. There they were shownhow to work in the development of these towns, while getting on their feet again economically.Kestell also wrote the Forewords to, and had a mighty role in launching some very valuable booksthat appeared in the depression years -- called Koers in die Krisis (alias the "Course in the Crisis").Three volumes in particular were of exceptional value. They are books that are hardly obtainabletoday. Written in Afrikaans, there are also a few contributions from Calvinists in other countries:one or two from America, Scotland, Hungary, France, Germany and so forth. But for the most partthey were written by South African Calvinists -- setting out the program to move forward towardthe conquest of the earth. They offer blueprints for this, not just in church affairs -- but also inpolitics, anthropology, biology, zoology and all of the recognised major fields of learning.But I think the true greatness of this man Kestell is seen in his work as the translator of the RevisedVersion of the Afrikaans Bible. It too appeared in the depression years. He worked on it for severalyears, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, every day. It is said that, as an oldman, he would often take his granddaughter with him for a walk in the garden. There he would readher the translation work that he had done in the New Testament during the last six hours. If his littlegranddaughter could not understand every word, he went back and revised it until she could. He feltit to be very important that the true seed of the Church -- the covenant children -- must be able tounderstand the Bible translation, loud and clear.