Hendrik de Cock's Return to the True Church Written by Marvin Kamps The author's narrative recounts the reformation of the church in The Netherlands in 1834, when ordained pastor Hendrik de Cock witnessed against the false doctrines and unspiritual character of his denomination, the dominant Reformed church of the Netherlands. After having been unceremoniously suspended and deposed from office, he led his congregation to return to the biblical worship of God in Christ Jesus as set forth in the Christian creeds (and the Confessions of the Reformation), which represents the faith of God's saints throughout the ages but at that time were all but ignored. Since then, his witness against the spirit of the age has inspired hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. This book therefore recounts one man's struggle against the perversions of scripture by ordained pastors in the now mainline Reformed church with its million or more spiritually asleep membership. Contra mundum was the character of this struggle for the truth. De Cock's witness therefore was a trumpet blast in the night of spiritual darkness that awakened God's people at the morn of a new day, while at the same time it angered and galvanized the unfaithful ecclesiastical administrators in opposition. De Cock, who discovered the creeds and confessions after his ordination, gave witness to the sole authority of sacred scripture in all of life. Endorsements "With this book Marvin Kamps, a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches, has made a major contribution to our understanding of the Secession of 1834 and of the man used by God to spearhead this mighty movement of the Spirit in the Netherlands during the early nineteenth century." --Rev. Cornelis Pronk "1834 is a masterpiece of Reformed church history. Well-written and the product of countless hours of research, it was a delight to read." --Dr. Wes Bredenhof "Because Hendrik de Cock and his writings are largely unknown today by the majority of the members of the Dutch Reformed denominations in the English speaking world, this book is important for making available to English readers a brief biography of Hendrik de Cock and his role as a leader of the Secession of 1834. It is especially valuable because approximately one half of its pages consist of Kamps' translations of key writings by De Cock and several of his defenders and opponents." -- Dr. Eugene Heideman, Former Dean of Western Theological Seminary Hardcover, 512 pages, notes, illustrated, bibliography
