Four: The Eschatology of Victory in Afrikaner Politics

In this lecture, we wish to deal with the eschatology of victory in the political life of the Afrikaner.

From 1652 (the time of the first establishment of the White Afrikaner colony on the southern tip of Africa) through 1700, South Africa was ruled from Holland. The local and locally-born White population then had very little (if any) say in the affairs of the government over South Africa.

However, from 1700 to 1780, the White South African Afrikaner resistance against Dutch autocratic rule at the Cape began to increase more and more. I previously referred to the resistance of the great South African Huguenot, Adam Tas. I also referred to the movement eastward, and the establishment of the Swellendam Republic and the Graaff-Reinet Republic. In that latter place, the great Rev. Dr. Andrew Murray was himself born at a subsequent time.

With the British takeover of the Cape from 1806 through 1820, and especially the consolidation of British power and the clear moves against the Afrikaner culture by the British, the dissatisfaction increased. This finally led to the Great Trek, when many White South Africans moved away from Cape Town eastward -- ever further.

They established the Republic of Natalia in 1838. After the Battle of Blood River and the confirmation of the covenant at that time, followed the annexation of Natalia by the British. So the Afrikaners trekked over the Drakensberge (alias the "Dragon Mountains") into what is now the Orange Free State. There they set up the Free State Calvinist Republic in 1854, and the South African Republic in 1857.

Now the Orange Free State was a model republic -- a Calvinist republic -- and one of great tranquility. The South African Republic, however, had a lot more tension in it than the Free State Republic. This was largely because it was more removed from civilisation; more surrounded by hostile Black tribes; and, of course, minerally much richer than the Orange Free State Republic.

There were many vicissitudes in the Transvaal alias the South African Republic. It was captured and taken over by the British. Then it expelled the British and reasserted its independence after the battle of Paardekraal. But this was soon followed by the ill-fated Jameson raid.

Sir Leander Starr Jameson, in the 1890's -- apparently acting on instructions from the Prime Minister of the Cape (Sir Cecil John Rhodes, the big diamond tycoon) -- desired to stop the linkup of the Germans between German South West Africa and German East Africa. So Jameson, from British Bechuanaland Protectorate in the west, invaded the Transvaal without any declaration of war. At the same time, a care fully-planned uprising of English-speaking White people took place in Johannesburg (in the Transvaal). This was designed to coincide with the invasion of Jameson's men.

Well, things went wrong for the British. The Afrikaners were alerted in time, and in a fixed battle they destroyed the British forces. However, then wanting to do what they felt was the Christian thing -- instead of shooting the captured Jameson as an aggressor who had unleashed an undeclared war, they handed him over to Cecil John Rhodes. The latter promised Jameson would be very severely dealt with in terms of British Law.

That having been done, the Afrikaners were later infuriated to learn that "severely dealt with" amounted to a mere eleven months of isolation for Jameson back at his home in England. Then Rhodes allowed him to return to South Africa and to re-acquire his influence in the Cape. This didn't sit at all well to promote good relations between the White Afrikaners on the one hand and the British in the southwestern part of South Africa on the other.

It is at this time that we begin to see the colossal figure of Paul Kruger -- after whom the famous "Kruger Rand" gold coin was later named. Paul Kruger seems to have been the greatest Calvinist politician in South Africa during the 19th century. He seems to have been born in 1825, but there is some mystery surrounding the place of his birth. Some say he was born at Soutpansdrift near Middleburg in the Cape. Some like to think he was born at Colesberg in the extreme northeast of the Cape -- on the very border of the Orange Free State. There is even one theory that he was born in the United States -- and was in fact an American who at a very early age emigrated to South Africa where he grew up and became afrikanerised. We may never know the exact answer to the circumstances of his birth. But that he was a man among men, is certain.

There are all kinds of legends surrounding the boyhood of this man. He was one of the ugliest men, as far as his face is concerned, who has ever lived -- not a ladies' man at all. He was rugged, bearded and tough. His face was full of character -- with a large nose, slit eyes and a roundish face. He was the kind of person that would look you in the eye and who would want to give you exactly what he felt the Word of God suggested you should be given.

In his boyhood and his early teenage, he was a very brave man. By far the most vicious animal in Africa is the rhinoceros -- not the lion or the elephant. You would do well to stay away from the rhinoceros. But not Paul Kruger! When hunting, a rhino turned on him. Kruger ended up wrestling this rhino. It was a wonder he didn't get crushed.

Kruger took out his gun and blew out the brains of the rhino. The rhino is solidly covered with armour. Its only "Achilles' heel" is a little soft spot behind the ear. Kruger knew just exactly where to put the bullet. But in doing this, he blew off his thumb between the barrel of the gun and the rhino's ear.

He bled a lot, but having rolled off the rhino and crawled out from under it, he took out his pen-knife. Praying to Almighty God and pretending it was someone else's thumb, without anaesthetic he proceeded to cut off the remains of his thumb with his own pen-knife.

Kruger was also constantly mediating in disputes between man and his fellowman. As a great Bible reader and the original founder-member of the "flat earth society" -- he believed in a flat world till the day he died. He did so, because he felt the Bible taught it. And if the Bible taught it, that was good enough for him. In his homespun Calvinism and Bible-reading, he proceeded to apply the Bible -- as he understood it -- to everything he encountered.

Now the Encyclopaedia Britannica can hardly be accused of bias in favour of South Africans. But the Britannica has the following to say about President Kruger: "He imbibed early the strict Puritanism of this frontier area. His 1902 memoirs reveal him in youth as a brave hunter and arbitrator. He was a staunch Dopper."

The 'Doppers' were a strict branch of Calvinism that broke away from the larger Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa -- round about 1858. The chief bone of contention at that time, seems to have been whether there should be one communion cup at the Lord's table -- or many little glasses. The Doppers felt it was abominable to have a system of different glasses, and that this involved a perversion of the sacrament. Also, they were exclusive psalm-singers at that time. Today, they've eased up a little on that exclusiveness. They were such absolute predestinationists at that time, and to some extent still are, that most of them really did not see the relevance of doing missionary work. The other Reformed Denominations, however, felt it has pleased God Who has elected His bride -- to use the instrumentality of the Church to seek His elect.

Kruger was a righteous man. This is seen by his actions even before he became State President. President Burgers of the South African Republic once went to war against a Black chief called Sekukune in the northeastern part of the South African Republic, in order to collect taxes from Sekukune in exchange for the protection the White South African Republic's army was affording him against his enemies. Paul Kruger resisted this, feeling it was inappropriate to go to war against a Black suzerain just because he had not paid these taxes.

On another occasion, Paul Kruger gave his personal Christian testimony to the great Rev. Dr. Andrew Murray -- and endeavoured to evangelise the pagan Black Chief Ramkok. Wrote Murray to his children and his wife: "Mr Kruger says that when God gave him a new heart, it was as if he wanted to tell everyone about Jesus' love... He wanted the birds and the trees and everything to help him praise his Saviour... He could not bear that there should be any poor black people not knowing and loving the Saviour whom he loved... Mr. Kruger sent a message to Ramkok to come and have a talk with us... The two days of waiting before Whitsunday at Paul Kruger's, were not lost. It was during these days that I felt the thought of the blessing of the indwelling Spirit appears so clear!."

In 1878, the two-year-long Anglo-Zulu war broke out. Back in Natal, the Zulus -- by far the most warlike people in the whole of southern Africa (both highly trained and disciplined) -- rose against the British. Thus there was a bloody war between the Black Zulus and the White British for two years.

Well, the British had been giving the White South African Afrikaners a raw deal. Consequently, there were some people in the South African Republic who even advocated that the White South African Afrikaners should assist the Black Zulus against the White British -- in order to get even with the British. For the British, you will recall, had destroyed the Calvinistic Afrikaner Natalia Republic. They had also forcibly expropriated Kimberley from the Orange Free State White Republic as soon as diamonds were discovered in Kimberley. And they had even invaded the Transvaal or South African Republic and sought to deprive her of her independence (which had been recognised by Britain at the Sand River Convention and the London Convention earlier in the century).

Paul Kruger, however, refused to go along with this policy. He said very clearly that it would be a horrible sin for White Calvinist Afrikaner South Africans ever to aid the savage bloodthirsty anti-Christian Zulus. For they were indeed anti-Christian, at that point. Even today less than 1% of the Zulu nation has been Calvinised, and probably still less than half belong to any brand of Christianity.

Kruger felt that the British, with all of their duplicity and with all of their Anglicanism and hatred of Calvinism, were nevertheless a nominally Christian people -- and that one may never team up with a heathen power against a nominally Christian power which dislikes you. Or, the way Kruger put it: "One must never join with savages in war against a civilised nominally Christian nation."

The Encyclopaedia Britannica further informs us -- and I was pleasantly surprised to see this evaluation -- that Kruger was not a dictator. Sometimes he has been accused by British historians as having been a dictator. But the Britannica says he was not.

Policy decisions of President Kruger and his Executive Council were subject to review by the Volksraad (alias the Parliament of the South African Republic). The Volksraad could, and sometimes did, refuse to support President Kruger's plans -- even on important issues.

Throughout, Kruger was known for pronouncements such as the following: "'God's Word shall be my rule of conduct in politics, and the foundation upon which the State must be established...'. Kruger was a blunt man who believed that his cause was right." (Thus the Encyclopaedia Britannica, quoting Paul Kruger)

There are a number of very fascinating anecdotes aboutm Kruger during the time he was the last President of the old South African Republic. As a Christian man, he desired Christianity to be spread in his land. Though a Calvinist by conviction -- and indeed a "Dopper" or a Calvinist of the Calvinists -- he recognised the Christianity of other groups such as Methodists and Episcopalians and even Baptists.

So, as State President, desiring to promote true religion and undefiled -- he passed a law offering two acres of land free of charge, to be granted by the State to any group of Christian people who would undertake on those two acres to erect a place of Christian worship to the honour of God. Most of the Christian groups took him up on this, and so a lot of churches of different denominations arose in the principal towns of the South African Republic.

At this stage, however, the Jewish community in the South African Republic came to Kruger and said to him: "Mr. President, we also would like to have two acres." And at that point, Kruger produced his Bible and said to the Jewish community: "Well now, look. This is a Bible. Do you believe the Bible?" The Jews said to him: "Yes, Mr. President, we believe the Bible." So Kruger said: "Well, do you believe all of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation?" They said: "Well, Mr. President, we believe all of it from Genesis to Malachi." "Ah," said Kruger, "but what about the rest of the Bible from Matthew to Revelation?" The Jews said: "You mean the New Testament?" He said: "Yes, that's exactly what I mean." They said: "No, we don't believe that, but it is only a part of your Bible."

Kruger then said: "Well, I agree with you that the Old Testament is the foundation of the Bible. All over our South African Republic, we have Old Testament place names." They said: "Yes, Mr. President, that's why we're here -- for our two acres." Kruger said: "I'll tell you what. The Bible has got two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now, I'll give you people one acre of land immediately -- because you accept the Old Testament. When you come back to me and tell me you believe the New Testament as well, I will give you the second acre alongside of all of the Christian Churches!"

So the Jews, a little chagrined that they only got one acre but nevertheless grateful that they had received it as a free gift, thanked the President and went off and built their synagogue. When the synagogue was completed, they felt constrained to ask Paul Kruger as State President to come and open it. He did. After giving a speech in which he thanked the Jewish people with their strong and healthy emphasis on the Old Testament for being such an inspiration to the Calvinists of the South African Republic, he ended his oration with the following unforgettable words. All the wealthy Jews of the Witwatersrand mines were in attendance in front of him on the pews. Said Kruger: "And now, as State President of the South African Republic, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I hereby pronounce this synagogue duly opened!"

Well, I'm not sure that he handled this difficult situation in quite the way he might have. But I think you'll agree with me that this is remarkable behaviour for a man who was trying to be consistent in politics -- consistent with what he believed the Word of God taught. To quote once more the Encyclopaedia Britannica on Kruger: "God's Word shall be my rule of conduct in politics, and the foundation on which the State must be established!"

Now, President Paul Kruger, an outspoken Calvinist statesman, did everything he could to promote Christian National Calvinist Public Education. Probably there were private schools in the Transvaal at this time, especially for groups such as the Jews. But Kruger believed that what the South African Republic needed, was a National School System that would be outspokenly Calvinist and Christian. So he launched it.

Interestingly, he imported into the South African Republic from Holland many Kuyperian school teachers to teach in the South African Public School System -- men whom Abraham Kuyper and his followers had been training in Holland. Consequently, very firm relations were established between Abraham Kuyper in Holland and Paul Kruger in South Africa.

If you read Kuyper's two massive volumes on Anti-Revolutionary Statecraft (which he wrote after finally being defeated in his attempt to gain re-election as Prime Minister of Holland), you will notice that Kuyper speaks very highly of Paul Kruger. Kuyper then regarded Kruger as perhaps the foremost Calvinist statesman in the whole world.

At any rate, Kruger not only imported all of these Dutch Calvinist schoolteachers from Holland that Kuyper had trained -- and gave them schools in South Africa to take care of. But Kruger also appointed many South African Reformed Preachers as Regional Superintendents of the Calvinist Public Education System.

Such included men like Reverend S.J. du Toit. He started writing in Afrikaans (as opposed to Dutch) in South Africa for the first time. He was also a father of the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners, (alias the "Society of True Afrikaners"). That body gave a great push to the development of written Afrikaans as a medium of cultural expression -- from approximately 1875 onward.

So what we see in the Transvaal Republic, is a Christian education system. But unfortunately Kruger lost the war against Britain. In 1902, as a broken man, he then went into exile on a ship that Queen Wilhelmina, the Calvinist monarch of Holland, sent to fetch him at Delagoa Bay in what is today Mozambique. She received him royally in Holland.

Kruger died as a broken old man in Switzerland, the land of Calvin -- in a house at a place called Clarens. That house is now South African Property -- and something of a tourist mecca for South Africans who go to Switzerland. His body was later taken to Pretoria, where it was reinterred in state in Church Square -- with a huge statue of Kruger looking out over the Capital City today. (Incidentally, Pretoria -- though not by any means a very populous city -- is the largest city in the whole world as far as its municipal sprawl is concerned. It is spread out over a huge area.)

The best book in English on the life of this great and godly man, was written by a South African Jew called Manfred Nathan: The Life and Times of Paul Kruger. The best book ever written on the Calvinist political views and actions of this State president, is still only available in Afrikaans. It is a doctoral dissertation by Dr. Smit, called Die Staatsopvatting van Paul Kruger (meaning "The Political Viewpoint of Paul Kruger").

The further development of Calvinist statecraft in South Africa was given a big push by the famous Professor, Dr. L.J. du Plessis. He was for many years the Head of the Department of Political Science at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education -- which is today the largest conservative Calvinist University in the world.

Du Plessis wrote many books. One is entitled Calvinism and Politics; another Liberal Politics and Calvinist Politics; a third, The Solution to the Poor White Problem; and a fourth, Our Republic Between East and West.

In the 1930's, Du Plessis wrote three articles on the political theory of John Calvin in the Dutch magazine "Anti-Revolutionary Statecraft" (published in Holland). It is very significant to me that the right-wing Schilder-ians in, Holland today, look to the South African Professor du Plessis as one of the greatest and brightest lights in the world as regards the development of Calvinistic Statecraft.

Here are some excerpts from what Du Plessis wrote on what he would call a pure Calvinist Theory of the State. He gives a sketch as to the calling of political government in the field of the enforcement of the Ten Commandments. He says that the State is explicitly responsible for the promotion of the external service of God, the defence of the pure doctrine and the regulation of the Church, the regulation of society, and the maintenance of civil righteousness and social peace etc.

Both the public religious aspects of interrelationship between Christians as well as between human beings in general, and the promotion of honesty and modesty, must be furthered by the State. However, that is not to say, continues Du Plessis, that the State can ever take the place of the Church or of Society. Nor does this mean that the State is ever to be subjected to church prescriptions.

After all, the State is normally limited to, and is only normed by, the Law -- viz. the political aspect of the Ten Commandments in both of its Tables; because the Law of the Ten Commandments, says Du Plessis, formulates the generally human 'natural equity' -- to secure it for all people. The constitutional and political application of all this, however, is partially determined by the changing circumstances of each nation and country.

The Mosaic Legislation as a whole, says Du Plessis, consists of naturally legal and of positively legal (ceremonial and judicial) elements. It is especially the first which have permanent application. In other words, that is the general equity of the civil law which is still to be applied today. The criterion of all of this is to be found, he tells us, in the Mosaic Law -- and in the extent to which the Mosaic Law and especially its natural legal kernel can be implemented in society today, where the people are at.

He then points out that the First Commandment of the Decalogue forbids idolatry -- but also demands, according to Scripture and to Natural Law in its political application, that those who oppose the true religion be punished. It includes the maintenance of the authority of the Preacher, and the punishment of public false doctrine -- even punishment unto death, he tells us.

He says that not to punish thus would leave false doctrine in a position to be able to threaten true law and order in its very foundations. Yet a crime consisting of godlessness is only punishable in those cases where the true religion has not only been accepted by public opinion and by voting referenda of the citizens, but is also supported by definite and unimpeachable witnesses beyond all doubt.

For the rest, the authorities are called upon to protect truth against error and superstition by the sword. In a properly ordained state or political situation, godless people (by whom true religion can be subverted) must absolutely not be tolerated.

As regards the implementation of the State's recognition of the First Commandment (which remains the goal) -- the rate of implementation depends upon the people's readiness, by way of referenda, to accept this and to submit to it. Only when they have done this, explains Du Plessis, does it become a crime. Of course it is a sin -- all along! But it only becomes a crime -- when through constitutional process it has been established as such within the nation concerned.

However, he goes on to say, pride and deliberate resistance against ecclesiastical authority is also to be punished. As a State, one is to move against this -- in the Name of God. Even those who would mislead people privately unto apostasy from God, need to be punished. But, always only provided that the true religion has been publicly and constitutionally acknowledged in the State -- and when the transgression of this true religion bears a revolutionary character.

These punishments, says Du Plessis, are to apply -- not only in respect of official people and private people, but also in respect of whole cities and nations which make themselves guilty of apostasy from God. They are even to be directed against partial corruption of the purity of the true religion -- especially in connection with fortune-telling and such kinds of phenomena.

Finally, the First Commandment, says Du Plessis, demands that God shall be honoured by the authorities. Even in war, He is to be completely trusted and acknowledged -- in all public affairs.

The Second Commandment demands that all images and false ceremonies shall be removed in religion, by the State, in the public sector. Further, the death penalty is to be applied to those that worship images -- wherever it occurs involving a member of a religious community committed to the true religion.

As the Third Commandment dealing with blasphemy, that too must not be tolerated. It needs to be punished.

The Fourth Commandment requires that the State protect and promote the public worship of Jehovah, and the maintenance of a Sabbath day of rest. The Sabbath-keepers' rest is not to be disturbed by Sabbath-breakers.

The Fifth Commandment demands the death penalty for serious breaches of parental power. It also demands respect toward political authorities and those who are advanced in years. It further requires the institution of political offices and the induction of political officers. They are also required. For God reminds us that the fallen human race cannot be preserved in any other way.

The Sixth Commandment further determines that the death penalty may only be applied after adequate testimony has been given. Security measures must be taken in building houses -- a reference to the battlements or protective devices outlined in the Mosaic Law [Deuteronomy 22:8]. Again, kidnapping is strictly prohibited, and punished in various ways -- even when a country is at war. In fact, even cruelty to animals is to be strictly prohibited.

The Seventh Commandment forbids -- with the sanction of the death penalty -- adultery, sodomy, and bestiality. It also forbids prostitution and fornication. This Commandment, however, also normates marriage positively -- in differing degrees. It posits laws against incest, and secures the right of a recently married man to be free from serving in the armed forces for one year. It regulates divorce -- and it does so in the manner Christ himself so outlined -- on account of the rottenness of people.

Again, the permitted sexual intercourse between man and wife is to some extent regulated by this law. Forbidden degrees of relationship against incest are to be established by the State, which are also to be sanctioned by the death penalty.

Finally, even further provisions are given -- concerning honesty and modesty in movement, decorum and dress.

To this very day, it is technically against the law of South Africa to wear a bathing suit on the beach -- even though this is not enforced any more. Adultery was regarded as a crime in South Africa right down to 1914, when it was overthrown in an important case (Fitzgerald vs. Green) which decided it is no longer a crime. Yet it is still a civil delict, and can involve an adulterer in being fined very heavily -- at the instance of the aggrieved spouse of the other party to the adultery.

Coming to the Eighth Commandment against theft and other sorts of damage to property, there is naturally a very detailed exposition of punishments and procedures. Here again, it is acknowledged that the Mosaic Law is an important source -- even as to its modern political application. Further, in connection with debt and slavery, the restitutio in integrum, alias the return of the possession of land back to its original owners, should take place -- subject to certain restrictions. Such include especially the jubilee year and the law of inheritance. All this must be brought to bear upon our present economic and political situation, where we are at -- but always with the intention of guaranteeing to all people a respectable mode of existence.

The Ninth Commandment, says Du Plessis, forbids the giving of false testimony -- and also the accepting of false testimony (even by majority vote). It determines very strict punishments against this.

The Tenth Commandment, says Du Plessis, concerns only the inward motions of man. As such, it has no political application whatsoever.

Well now, Du Plessis goes on to say that this Calvinian statecraft is to be accepted and to be regarded as generally valid. God has indeed required that the equity kernel of His holy Law - the Decalogue -- be applied in modern society in this way. The Mosaic Legislation has been given us as a model. It is, judiciously, to be followed -- bearing in mind the character of the nation today. But the correct way to proceed, he says, is to apply the Commandment with reference to present day local circumstances -- and to educate the society concerned to a higher degree of conviction in the matters of the Law. That is to remain the ultimate end toward which the movement is being made.

I have been rather lengthy in dealing with Du Plessis. Yet it is interesting that right-wing Schilder people in Holland today look to his viewpoint as perhaps the chief model in the world of where we should be heading.

This brings me to a very fascinating political leader, General Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870 1950). Smuts was born in Riebeeck-West in the Cape Province. He went to Stellenbosch as a young man, where he met his future wife. They used to read the New Testament to one another in Greek -- in which he became a specialist. From there, he moved on to Christ's College at Cambridge in England. Though his pronunciation of English was always poor, he nevertheless became the top student in the whole Law Class at Cambridge University.

Smuts also studied psychology and -- believe it or not -- became an expert on the poetry of the American Walt Whitman. Returning to South Africa, he became the Attorney-General of Paul Kruger's South African Republic. He later became a Boer General in the Anglo-Boer War -- a brilliant soldier who wiped out the enemy time and time again. He even wrote a very important book in English, at the end of the Anglo-Boer War, called A Century of Wrong.

However, after writing that book against the British, Smuts underwent a radical change (compare the "New Age" movement today). He then became, if anything, pro-British -- although (in his opinion) not anti-South African. Yet many South Africans indeed felt that he was.

I guess the best way to describe Smuts, is to call him an "off-beat" Christian who had fallen away from Calvinism. He continued to read his Greek New Testament. But he did make accommodations to the doctrine of evolution. In fact, he became one of the greatest proponents of the theory of holism -- or rather of "Christian holism" -- in the whole world. He also helped launch the old League of Nations -- and wrote the Preamble of the United Nations Charter. He had a tremendous following throughout the world, and especially in Britain -- but a much lesser following in South Africa.

If it had not been for Smuts getting the Welsh coal miners (who were on strike) to go back to work in World War I, conceivably the Germans would have won that war. For the British would not then have had the coal to smelt the iron to make ammunition to fight and to defeat the Germans.

Smuts was a great botanist, and has had many species of plants named after him. He was also a mountaineer -- until his old age. (When boys, we ourselves often climbed Table Mountain. Once, our group there encountered General Smuts -- and accompanied him to the top.)

This man was opposed to the imposition of severe penalties against the Kaiser at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles -- where he represented the British against Germany. It was Smuts who also negotiated the Peace Treaty between Britain and Ireland -- after Dublin communists had captured the O'Connell Street Post Office in the Great Irish Rebellion. He became Rector of St. Andrew's University in Scotland -- though living full-time in South Africa. He was a Privy Councillor in the highest echelons of the British Government, a Field Marshall of Great Britain and the British Empire, and Churchill's right hand man in World War II.

Believe it or not, there was also a second great man born at the same time in the same small village in South Africa as General Smuts -- Dr. Daniel Francois Malan (1874-1959). He too was born in Riebeeck-West in the Cape. He too was a fellow student with Smuts at Stellenbosch, before Malan went to Holland to earn his Doctorate in Theology.

Malan became a Preacher of the South African Reformed Church (N.G.K.), preaching in a town called Montagu just forty miles away from the village where my own parents live. He lambasted his all-White congregation on one occasion -- for giving too much wine to their poor Coloured employees. Then he moved on to become Pastor of the Church at Graaff Reinet -- the town where the great Rev. Dr. Andrew Murray had been born.

One day, after reading his Bible in 1912 or 1913, Malan hit upon First Corinthians 10:31 -- "Whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." He then got up on his pulpit, and gave his farewel message. He claimed that God had called him out of the pulpit into politics, and that he must go into politics -- to do politics to the glory of God.

Thus he became editor of "Die Burger" (a major Afrikaans daily newspaper). He attended the signing of the Peace Treaty with Germany at Versailles with Smuts -- where Malan requested, unsuccessfully, independence for South Africa. He pioneered the South African Nationality Act and the Flag Act. For many years a Member of Parliament first for Calvinia and then for Piketberg, he became Leader of the National Party in 1932 -- and of the Reunited National Party in 1939. He was instrumental in the 1938 Voortrekker Centennial -- and in the revival of Calvinistic Afrikanerdom. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica puts it: "Doggedly, patiently and with great skill, Malan welded together a reunited National Party."

Malan was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1948 onward. He brought together all those whom he felt belonged together through internal conviction. He was the first foreign head of any country in the world ever to visit the new State of Israel.

Most interesting of all is Malan's reaction when the great Professor of Ichthyology Dr. J.B. Smith of Rhodes University received a report about a live coelacanth -- which he had thought had been extinct for 250 million years. One day this creature was caught alive -- some distance off the coast of Southern Africa. It then died. But Smith himself could not get to this coelacanth before it would have decomposed. In desperation, he phoned Prime Minister Malan (who was a creationist).

Malan said: "Smith, I'll send my personal helicopter over immediately." So Smith took the Prime Minister's personal helicopter and took possession of this ugly fish, thus managing to get it preserved in time. He, an evolutionist, then took it over to the creationistic Prime Minister's residence, and said: "Dr. Malan, I am so grateful, particularly that you as a creationist would do this for the advancement of science."

Malan replied that creationists have nothing to fear, as long as people do not draw incorrect conclusions from such discoveries. Smith then said to Malan: "Sir, out of gratitude to you for putting your helicopter at my disposal to get this valuable fish -- I propose to call it Malania anjouanae. Dr. Malan, I'm calling it after you!"

Dr. Malan smiled and looked at this ugly fish. He then asked: "Am I really as ugly as that? Do you mean to tell me we all evolved from this animal?" For Malan had a keen sense of humour!

That brings me to Dr. the Honourable Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, of whom you may well have heard. Verwoerd was taken by his Dutch missionary parents as an infant to South Africa. There he grew up, becoming a brilliant theological student -- about the only one who ever achieved 100% for Hebrew (which is nearly impossible to attain at a South African University). He then moved on into the fields of Logic and Philosophy -- where he achieved equal academic brilliance. He then went to Germany, where he earned a Doctorate in Psychology (with a dissertation on The Bluntening of the Emotions). Characteristically, on his return to South Africa, he was appointed Professor first of Psychology and then of Sociology at Stellenbosch University -- until he got interested in Politics and Anthropology. There after, he was appointed first the Editor of the "Transvaler" daily newspaper, and then Minister of Native Affairs in 1950.

Verwoerd was a man with a prodigious memory. He had a fine family life. His daughter did missionary work with Coloured people every weekend. His son, whom I have met, became a Missionary.

I once met and spoke to Dr. Verwoerd too. He once said, the only possible defence of apartheid or separate development (which he promoted), was the motive of love for one's fellow man. He was determined that South Africa should never have television. It never did -- until after he was assassinated. He felt it would be a corrupting influence, and I think he has been proven right. At the time of his assassination, he had the whole unwritten blueprint for separate development in his head. Too bad he never wrote it down.

He was the South African Prime Minister in the 50's and the 60's. I remember still when the Roman Catholics tried to plant a huge cross on Devil's Peak, a mountain near Cape Town. Verwoerd ordered that cross to be removed. For the Romanists were not to be allowed to get public propaganda out of this! Here you see the ongoing trend of sixteenth century Calvinistic doctrine -- prohibiting Roman Catholics from having public processions through the streets etc. He launched and won the Republican Referendum in 1960, and then proclaimed a South African Republic in 1961. He acknowledged Almighty God as the Head of the State, and opted for a revived system of Christian Public Education.

He was followed after his assassination in 1966, by Adv. B.J. Vorster -- whom I thrice met, and whose brother I knew extremely well (being the Moderator of the National General Assembly of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa). Prime Minister Vorster was a Calvinist and Lawyer. He often prayed in his office before taking important decisions of State. He had studied Calvinist philosophy under Professor Stoker, during World War II. Vorster pushed the reconstruction of Christian Public Education, and launched an Act through Parliament to this effect.

It was Vorster who broke the power of the underground Communist Party in South Africa. Some Jewish people once came to him and said to him: "Adv. Vorster, we think you are very cruel to restrict these communists to their own homes and not let them go out; and to require them to report to the police twice a day. But Vorster replied to these people: "Well, you know, I read all about this in your Holy Book -- the Old Testament. If you'll take the trouble to turn to First Kings chapter 2, you'll see this is the way in which your King Solomon dealt with Shimei. He put him under house arrest. While reading your Bible, this seemed to me an appropriate way to deal with the communist menace."

The present Prime Minister of South Africa is Minister P.W. Botha. He is married to the daughter of a Reformed Preacher. He is presently working toward confederation of all Black and White South African self-governing areas -- to become a Christian-Western confederated bastion against communism.

In general, I would say that Calvinism is still alive and well in South Africa. Gambling and prostitution and strip-tease and homosexuality are all illegal. Rape and murder are generally punished with the death penalty. Of course, there is always room for much further improvement!

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