Godefridus Cornelis Udemans (c. 1581-1649) was one of the most influential Dutch Further Reformation divines of his generation. With the exception of Willem Teellinck (1579-1629), no seventeenth-century theologian from the Zeeland province exerted greater influence upon his contemporaries than Udemans, the preacher from Zierikzee. Through his preaching and writing, Udemans promoted Reformed piety in Zeeland and neighboring provinces for nearly half a century. [1]
Life
Godefridus Udemans was born at Bergen op Zoom in 1581 or 1582 into a Reformed family. His father played a significant role in helping found the Reformed church at Bergen op Zoom. Godefridus was converted in his youth and may have studied theology under his spiritual father, Marcus Zuerius, a seasoned minister of good reputation at Bergen op Zoom. Zuerius was also the grandfather of Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn (1612-1653), who became a professor of theology at Leiden. Udemans retained a close friendship with his teacher until Zuerius’s death.
Udemans sustained his classical examinations for ministerial candidacy on April 19, 1599. Seven months later, he accepted a pastoral call from Haamstede. A week later, on November 23, Classis Schouwen examined and admitted him into the ministry of the Reformed churches. He was ordained on December 12, succeeding Jan Cornelis Kempe, who had died early in that year. Initially, the young minister received some opposition, but when he received a pastoral call to the Reformed church in Zierikzee in 1602, the congregation opposed his departure. Ultimately, the civil authorities of the Zeeland province intervened. On April 11, 1604, nearly two years after being called, he was finally installed in Zierikzee, where he served the church faithfully for forty-five years. On January 29, 1613, he married Magdalena Stoutenburg (c. 1582-1662), daughter of the mayor of Brouwershaven. In 1620, the Udemans family was blessed with twins.
Udemans died at Zierikzee on January 20, 1649, still active in the ministry though in his late sixties. He was buried in the St. Lievensmonster tower of Zierikzee.
Influence
Appointments
Udemans was a major influence on the Dutch Reformed church in his day in a variety of ways. Due to his diversity of gifts, both ecclesiastical and civil authorities called upon him to serve on various committees and in other capacities.
Udemans became involved in the Remonstrant (Arminian) debate early on. In 1616, Udemans and Herman Faukelius (1560-1625), author of The Compendium (a shortened version of the Heidelberg Catechism), were delegated by the Zeeland churches to go to Amsterdam to meet with deputies from other districts for the purpose of organizing the contours of a national synod. The following year, at the request of Prince Maurice, Udemans, together with Antonius Walaeus (1573-1639) and Jacobus Trigland (1583-1654), served the congregation of ’s-Gravenhage as ministers on loan. In 1618, Udemans received a similar appointment to serve the Dome Church at Utrecht for two months. There, together with three other ministers, he wrote the Utrecht Church Order of 1619, the same year in which the Church Order of Dort was written.
In 1618, the Provincial Synod of Zeeland chose Udemans as one of its delegates for the National Synod of Dort. Though he was still in his thirties, respect for him and his gifts were so extensive, he was chosen as vice president of that august body. Additionally, the synod assigned him several tasks:
- to organize the sessions of the commission that was assigned to develop a doctrinal statement regarding the five points of doctrinal difference between the Reformed and the Remonstrants;
- to serve on the committee appointed to compare the Latin, French, and Dutch texts of the Belgic Confession of Faith; and
- to serve on the committee mandated to compose two small catechism booklets.
Writings
Udemans wrote approximately twenty books in his lifetime; additionally, he translated four books that he saw through the press. Over the centuries, his books have been reprinted in Dutch about one hundred times. These reprints continue until the present day. Five of his books have been translated into German. The Practice of Faith, Hope, and Love is his first book in English. Hopefully, more will follow.
Udemans’s writings may be divided into two categories: experientially edifying books and polemical books.
Experientially Edificatory Works
Most of Udemans’s books were written to promote godly piety, revealing him to be an authentic Dutch Further Reformation divine. He generally focused on themes that touched the ordinary believer’s inner, experiential life. That is true already of his first book, “Christian Meditations, Which the Believer Ought to Engage in Each Day, Provided for Each Day of the Week” (1608) [2]; Udemans asserts that believers should meditate on matters that concern our salvation on a daily basis. Meditation provides spiritual nutrition for the soul. It strengthens our faith, increases our knowledge, arouses zealous prayer, and kindles fruits of godliness. Beginning with Monday, Udemans provides meditations for each day of the week, using this weekly sequence of subject matter: “about our misery,” “about the blessings of God toward us,” “about our obligation to gratitude,” “about the course of nature,” “about the course of this world,” and, finally, “about the church triumphant.” Cases of conscience and experiential themes are interwoven throughout, and each chapter concludes with a prayer.
Udemans’s experiential and edifying emphases are also transparent in the only commentary he wrote, “A Short and Clear Explanation about the Song of Solomon” (1616). For Udemans, the Song of Songs is a metaphorical presentation of the covenant of grace, which unveils the amazing spiritual marriage that God the Father, in Christ, made with the elect. In this Old Testament book, the Holy Spirit has, as Udemans writes in his preface, “intended to portray for us not only the true description of the Lord Christ and His church, but also the wonderful union of everlasting love and faithfulness which exists between these two parties.”
Consequently, Udemans expounds the Song phrase by phrase and text by text, focusing on the Christ-church, Bridegroom-bride relationship. In this book, he leans on Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and Joseph Hall (1574-1656), an English pietist who showed mystical streaks at times. Unlike some of the later Dutch Further Reformation divine writers, however, Udemans does not fall into any kind of experientialism that becomes overly, subjectively mystical. In his exposition of the Song of Solomon, he retains an objective ecclesiastical dimension while not denying the experiential fellowship between the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and His adored bride, the church.
Udemans’s “The Ladder of Jacob” (1628) is an experiential and allegorical exposition of Jacob’s vision at Bethel (Gen. 28:10) that focuses on the steps of grace in the Christian life. The ladder Jacob saw, which stretched from earth to heaven, depicts Christ Jesus as mediator and intercessor, for He said of Himself, “I am the way.” Udemans then presents eight rungs on this spiritual ladder that enable a babe in grace to reach spiritual adulthood in Christ: authentic humility and repentance, knowing Christ, sincere faith, true confession of faith, a godly walk of life, Christian patience, spiritual joy in Christ, and perseverance of the saints. These rungs of grace comprise the straight way to heaven, and it is the task of every Christian, while proceeding from virtue to virtue, to not rest before arriving at the heavenly Zion.
Additionally, Udemans wrote a small book, “Preparation for the Lord’s Supper in the Form of a Dialogue,” in which Urbanus and Theophilus carry on a discourse regarding the Lord’s Supper. It was added to the “Christian Catechism of the Netherlands’ Reformed Churches” by Gellius de Bouma, and also was added to “The Right Use of the Holy Supper of the Lord.” Both of these titles were edifying works that were reprinted several times in the seventeenth century.
Another experiential work of edification is Udemans’s “The Last Trumpet” (1653), a 750-page, four-volume exposition of Jesus’ last discourse in Matthew 25, which includes the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the parable of the talents, and a description of some events on the final Day of Judgment. The major theme of this work is that the Christian’s entire life must be a preparation for eternity. Since Christ, the Bridegroom of His church, will appear as a thief in the night, everyone who wishes to enter into the marriage feast of the Lamb must approach Him fully prepared. Whoever is not prepared will not be admitted into the wedding chamber, and after this life there is no more time of grace (Matt. 25:1-13). Moreover, Christ, like the master in the parable of the talents, will require from us an account of the gifts He has entrusted to us before we may enter His kingdom (vv. 14-30). This will occur at the final judgment, when the Son of man will separate the sheep from the goats, and the righteous will enter into everlasting life as the unrighteous will enter into everlasting pain.
In 1640, Udemans published “A Blessed New Year,” a sermon that he had preached the previous year on January 1 based on 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Being a new creature means having a renewed mind—a mind that has spiritual understanding and discernment—and striving to live a sanctified life through a pure conscience, a sanctified will, and sanctified affections. It also means having a renewed tongue and being renewed in our visible conduct. And it means constantly strengthening all of these marks and graces by using the spiritual armor Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6:10-20, and through watchfulness and prayer, humility and meekness, and simplicity and caution.
Udemans had a large heart for common laborers, especially seafaring people. Since his church at Zierikzee consisted mostly of fishermen and personnel of merchant ships, Udemans wrote three books as practical Christian guides for the life and work of these seafaring men. In these books, he provided a practical and ethical manual for their trades, as well as a justification for the commercial and nautical life of the republic in regard to the East and West India companies (e.g., see “The Spiritual Rudder of the Merchant’s Ship”). He also spiritualized their trades and developed the ideals of the Further Reformation in a particularly helpful way for all those involved with seafaring occupations.
First among these books was “The Spiritual Compass” (1617), which was greatly expanded in its fourth edition thirty years after its first publication. In the preface to this expanded edition, Udemans provides his reasons for writing this book. To avoid sandbars and hidden rocks, no seafarer, skipper, or fisherman will dare to sail the oceans without a good compass. Nevertheless, many people sail on the sea of life without regard to the perils of their own souls, which arise from the devil, the world, and their own flesh. There are complaints that the catch at sea is decreasing daily; the boat owners invest heavily but see little in return. Everyone assigns his own reasons for this disappointment. But the true cause, which is that God is angry with man’s sin, is overlooked. Then, too, few take to heart God’s remedies for this chastisement: faith and repentance. Most people forget that the God who made the sea and the dry land is and remains the sole Lord and Master of both, and without His will neither sea nor land will supply anything fruitful. Udemans writes: “For this reason, if we wish to sail the sea profitably, to our spiritual and temporal prosperity, then the Lord Christ must be our Admiral, the Holy Spirit must be our Pilot, God’s Word must be our compass, faith must be our ship, hope must be our anchor, and prayer must be our convoy. If we are so equipped, we need have no fear, even if the sea fumed and tossed so much that the mountains would collapse due to her tumult, and even if the world perished and the hills tumbled into the sea, since God is on board with us” (cf. Ps. 46).
After carefully treating this subject of seafaring with spiritual and practical applications, Udemans discusses the specific tasks of the godly seafarer. He explains how he must conduct himself while on a journey and how he must live after he returns home. He then explains the history of Paul’s shipwrecks, and provides numerous prayers for various aspects of seafaring. The book concludes with Jonah’s song of praise from the fish’s belly (cf. Jonah 2).
Twenty years later, Udemans provided a second seafaring volume, “Merchant’s Ship” (1637), which is an allegorical explanation of Moses’ blessing on Zebulon and Issachar (Deut. 33:18-19). Like all of Udemans’s treatises, this book is carefully subdivided. Much of “Merchant’s Ship” stresses the need for contentment and joy in pursuing one’s daily calling. After emphasizing in typical Puritan style that everyone should be satisfied in his calling, Udemans details the responsibilities of four callings: magistrates, ministers, merchants, and seafarers. He then writes extensively about the sea, describing it as an overflowing treasure house in which numerous temporal blessings lie hidden. Though land-based occupations are useful, earning a living from the sea, generally speaking, exceeds living on the land, for it brings blessings from the harvests of many lands rather than just one. Ships also bring in double income, for they are sent away loaded with goods and return loaded with goods. After extolling living from the sea, Udemans adds a detailed recommendation for unrestricted maritime activity, offering twelve reasons why the idea of the free passage of ships should be promoted and honored.
Udemans intended his “Merchant’s Ship” as an introduction to the “Spiritual Rudder of the Merchant’s Vessel” (1638), printed a year later. This considerably larger work is, according to the title page, a “faithful testimony of how the merchant and the mariner must each conduct himself in his dealings” under all circumstances, in war and in peace, before God and man, on the water and on land, but especially among the heathen in the East and West Indies. In seven hundred pages, Udemans explains how people in these callings are always to aim at honoring God, edifying the church, saving souls, caring for family members, and supporting the fatherland. He then details the seafaring worker’s responsibilities toward God, family members, colleagues and employees, the state, authorities, and the heathen. In sum, “Spiritual Rudder” is a handbook on living the Christian life in the church, at home, and in society.
“Spiritual Rudder” is historically significant for its groundbreaking work on the ethics of economics among the Dutch Further Reformation divines. Udemans wrote positively of the Calvinist merchant’s goal of acquiring and increasing capital without contradicting his faith. He was less ascetic in his economic views than Willem Teellinck, the father of the Dutch Further Reformation. Udemans put less stress on being a stranger in the world and more stress on moving faith from the inner chamber out into the world’s marketplace. He emphasized that the believing merchant is not a believer on one hand and a merchant on the other, but he must always be a believer, both in public Sabbath worship and as a merchant, since he is always called, no matter the circumstances in which he finds himself, to think, speak, and act like a Christian. According to Udemans, Christianity always has profound and broad ramifications for the believer’s relationship with his neighbors and colleagues.
Some of the books that Udemans translated also reveal his Reformed, experiential, and edificatory emphases, of which two are worthy of mention here. First, Udemans translated Pierre de la Place’s (1520-1572) “An Appealing Tract Regarding the Excellence of the Christian” (1611), in which this erudite Huguenot delineates his orthodox Calvinistic concepts regarding election and predestination. Second, that same year he translated Jean Taffin’s (1529-1602) “A Clear Exposition of the Apocalypse.”
In most of these books, Udemans strongly opposed nominal Christians who spoke freely about Christ’s grace but whose lives showed no fruits of having been born again. Most of all, however, Udemans delighted to comfort God’s people and promote their sanctification. He focused with precision on the practice of piety (praxis pietatis) in both its practical and experiential dimensions. Inner piety as evidenced through various cases of conscience, as well as inward spiritual joyfulness, receives a good portion of his attention. It is no coincidence that the only book of the Bible on which he wrote in full was the Song of Solomon. Like other Dutch Further Reformation divines, he grapples with questions related to assurance of faith, such as the internal evidences of the Holy Spirit, the practical syllogism, and the marks of saving grace. Yet, even as he deals with such matters, Udemans does not lose an objective-subjective balance. Justification and sanctification continue to function harmoniously in his theology, much like in John Calvin’s.
The experiential, edificatory emphasis in Udemans’s writings reflected his personal library, which was recorded at Zierikzee in 1653. His library provides evidence that he was well versed both in ancient and medieval theology, as well as the works of theologians in his own day. His love for experiential piety is evident from the large number of English and Scottish experiential works in his library. He had a thorough collection also of his fellow writers in the Dutch Further Reformation, including numerous books by Willem Teellinck and Eewoud Teellinck.
Polemical Works
First, Udemans did not hesitate to write polemically on practical and ethical issues of his day. For example, in 1643, he entered into a debate about whether it was wrong for men to have long hair by writing his last book, “Absalom’s Hair,” a robust treatise against men having long hair. Udemans chose to publish this book under a pseudonym (Iranaeus Poimenander), probably because he wrote the book in a rather strong and fiery manner. In this debate, he chose to support the side of Gisbertus Voetius, Carolus de Maets (1597-1651), and Jacobus Borstius (1612-1680), all of whom, based on 1 Corinthians 11:14, had strongly opposed the then-current fashion of men wearing long hair.
Second, Udemans, like most other notable, conservative Reformed writers of his day, wrote against the Roman Catholic Church. He coauthored two books (one with Voetius) exposing Roman Catholic error, and also translated the substantial book of Andreas Rivetus (1572-1651) against Roman Catholic theology. Udemans also translated a little work of Andreas Hyperius (1511-1564), a professor of Marburg, titled “Tract of the Bacchus-feasts” (1610), in which Hyperius opposed the celebration of fast evenings, circuses, and various Roman Catholic amusements that the Reformation had not yet managed to eradicate.
Third, three of Udemans’s books were written against the Anabaptists. In Zierikzee in 1609, Udemans took an active role in a three-day Reformed/Baptist debate, primarily revolving around the nature of Christ’s incarnation. The debaters included the three Reformed ministers of Zierikzee and three prominent Anabaptist representatives. In 1613, Udemans published the minutes of the discussions of the debate, showing the validity of the Reformed viewpoint that Jesus grew in the womb of Mary as a real baby rather than merely passing through Mary as water passes through a trough, as the Anabaptists claimed.
Later, in 1620, Udemans wrote “Necessary Improvement,” a detailed rebuttal against Francois de Knuyt, one of the Anabaptist representatives in the 1609 debate, who had written “A Short Acknowledgment of Faith.” In his response, Udemans effectively refuted erroneous Anabaptist views concerning God’s attributes, the creation of man, the fall of man, the incarnation of Christ, baptism, the role of the magistrates, the taking of oaths, and prayer.
Udemans’s “The Peace of Jerusalem” (1627) was a response to the polemical book written by the Anabaptist Anthony Jacobsz (c. 1594-1624; often called Roscius after the friend and teacher of Cicero), titled, “Babel: The Confusion of the Paedo-baptists among Themselves about the Subject of Baptism and Its Adherence, To Be a Mirror for Hermanno Faukelio.” Roscius’s book, in turn, was written against Herman Faukelius’s “Babel, that is, the Confusions of the Anabaptists Among Themselves Regarding Virtually All the Components of Christian Doctrine.” In “The Peace of Jerusalem,” Udemans responded to Jacobsz’s book point by point. In sum, he attempted to show how much the Reformed church agreed on issues related to baptism with the convictions of the oldest apostolic church of Jerusalem. His polemical skills, though a bit tedious at times, were intellectually astute, sharp, and devastating.
Throughout these writings, Udemans not only answered traditional Anabaptist arguments related to the baptism of infants, but also responded at length to the Anabaptist charge that Reformed doctrine promotes careless living.
The Practice Of Faith, Hope, And Love
Udemans’s first major work, originally titled, “Practice: The Actual Exercises of the Primary Christian Virtues—Faith, Hope, and Love,” was published in 1612. In this book, Udemans, as a Reformed pietist, presents faith, hope, and love as experientially active Christian virtues. Justification, which establishes the believer’s union with Christ, is presented as the experiential commencement of sanctification, and therefore faith itself cannot but produce good works. This is really the burden of the book, as Udemans acknowledges in the preface.
The book commences with a portrayal of the essence and distinctions of the Christian’s three primary virtues:
- True faith is a fruit of the Spirit, planted in our hearts by the hearing of the Word and confirmed by the use of the sacraments.
- Hope is the fruit of the Spirit whereby we look forward with patience and endurance to the fulfillment of God’s promises.
- Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit by which we love God for His sake and our neighbors (meaning everyone, including our enemies) for God’s sake.
In expounding the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, Udemans follows an effective pattern of first providing a basic explanation and proofs of each phrase being expounded, then offering comforts for believers that flow from that phrase.
In keeping with the Reformed practice of catechizing, the Ten Commandments receive the most lengthy treatment, taking up two-thirds of the book. Udemans unveils a remarkable array of sins and virtues with regard to each commandment. In our day, when our consciences are so desensitized, we are naturally prone to think at certain points that Udemans yielded to legalism—especially when he deals with the Sabbath and various issues often relegated to the category of asceticism, such as fasting. If Udemans went too far in promoting rules that flow out of the Ten Commandments, however, our generation surely doesn’t go far enough. And let us not forget that his treatment of the commandments shows how serious the Dutch Further Reformation divines were about living all of life to God’s glory by following His will fully in all that we are called to do and not to do. They would not have viewed Udemans’s treatment as legalistic, but as a sincere effort to bring all of life to the touchstone of Scripture and into submission to the will of our Father, which ought to be our meat and drink to do.
The Practice of Faith, Hope, and Love resonated well with the God-fearing people of the seventeenth-century Netherlands. It was reprinted at least four times in that century (Dordrecht: 1621, 1632, 1640; Amsterdam: 1658) and became one of Udemans’s most important books. When the third edition was printed, Udemans added an article on meditation, titled, “Divine Contemplation: That Is, Spiritual Means of Warfare by Which to Attain Heaven with Such Violence as Is Pleasing to God.” This tract, based on Christ’s words spoken to His disciples—“and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12)—was well placed, as it was very similar to The Practice of Faith, Hope, and Love in its goal of stirring up lukewarm Christians to become active in promoting the kingdom of God.
Conclusion
What William Perkins (1558-1602) did for England, Godfried Udemans strove to do for the Netherlands—to point people to their divine calling in Christ. Udemans’s work was deeply appreciated by many of his contemporaries. Eewoud Teellinck said that he was a faithful prophet to the Netherlands. Cornelius Boy said that Udemans’s preaching was blessed to the conversion of thousands.
Udemans is one of the most significant, typical, and influential ministers in the early period of the Dutch Further Reformation during the first half of the seventeenth century. This is to be largely attributed to his many-faceted gifts and interests. He was a godly Christian with a heart that was sensitive to the needs of the poor, a great exegete and biblical scholar, a well-known and able Reformed preacher who stressed the practice of piety (praxis pietatis), a faithful and beloved shepherd of souls, a gifted historical theologian, an influential writer in the mainstream of the Dutch Further Reformation, and a capable guide in church affairs in Zeeland. He enjoyed great respect at classes and synods, and became particularly well known after his important role as vice president of the Synod of Dort. He was a great help for the Dutch Reformed Church in battling Arminianism before, during, and after the Remonstrant controversy.
Udemans had a great vision for the spiritual renewal of the Netherlands. He did not live to see that vision fulfilled as he wished, but he was given God’s grace to strive after it, and in the process, he made a huge positive and spiritual impact on the lives of thousands.
Notes
- This article is primarily drawn from the introduction of Godefridus Udemans, The Practice of Faith, Hope, and Love, trans. Annemie Godbehere, ed. Joel R. Beeke (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2013). It is a compilation drawn from the following Dutch sources: W. Fieret, Udemans: Facetten uit zijn leven en werk (Houten: Den Hertog, 1985); P. J. Meertens, “Godefridus Cornelisz. Udemans,” Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis 28 (1935):65-106; W. J. op ’t Hof, “Godefridus Udemans,” in Het blijvende Woord, ed. J. van der Haar, A. Bergsma, L. M. P. Scholten (Dordrecht: Gereformeerde Bijbelstichting, 1985), 222-25; B. W. Steenbeek, “Udemans, Godefridus,” in Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Protestantisme, ed. D. Nauta, et al. (Kampen: Kok, 1978), 1:385-86; A. Vergunst, Godefridus Cornelisz Udemans en zijn ’t Geestelijck Roer van ’t Coopmans Schip (Utrecht: Theol. Instituut, 1970). Thanks to Adam Slingerland for his translation assistance. See also F. Ernest Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism (Leiden: Brill, 1965), 124-26.
- The Dutch book titles are translated into English. They are placed within quotation marks in non-italic print to show that they have not been published in English.
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