Revival Seeds Germinate Part 1

By Ashley Cloete

An intriguing yet enlightening look at the history of South Africa from a spiritual perspective. The author draws on much known and some generally-unknown historical facts around events, individuals, communities and the nation at large and delves into background spiritual causes and their effect on the development of South Africa's nationhood. The book reveals a wide variety of contributions from the indigenous peoples as well as the colonialists - both constructive and non-constructive that went towards making the nation what it is today. There are also some interesting insights on South Africa’s impact in the international arena and vice versa. Good seeds sown over the centuries and the partial harvests that we have seen give us hope for the final harvest that will give South Africans a nation to be proud of. There are a couple of valuable chapters covering factors that curb genuine revival, however the book in general also clearly shows what are the characteristics of a people that produce decisions and actions that build and unify, and produce a strong, stable, godly and sustainable society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Cloete
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9780620891141

Ashley Cloete

Ashley Cloete was born and raised in Cape Town, but lived in Germany and Holland for many years. He served as a teacher while studying extramurally at the University College of the Western Cape in the suburb Bellville. At this time he also served on the executive of the national youth union of the Moravian Church.A bursary facilitated by the church sent him to Germany in January 1969, where he met his wife Rosemarie while studying Greek and Biblical Hebrew. After completing theological studies at the Moravian Seminaries in Cape Town and Bad Boll (Western Germany), he served as a pastor in West Berlin and Utrecht (Netherlands), with residence in nearby Zeist.Because of apartheid-related legislation, his marriage led to exile from South Africa. During this period he contended via correspondence with the government of that time to enable a return to the country with his family of seven. A sampleof this correspondence is included in What God Joined Together.After returning to South Africa in January 1992, the family became involved with prayer and evangelism movements. The blessings and positive impacts in Germany and Holland during exile, inspired the vision of such work in his home country of South Africa. Since 2003 the family has been focusing on compassionate outreach to refugees and other foreigners. This ultimately led to the founding of the organization Friends from Abroad, a low-key umbrella organsiation in which mission agencies and a few churches have been networking since 2006.Already as a teenager, during the apartheid era in South Africa , Ashley had been impressed with need for a visual local expression of the unity of followers of Jesus according to the prayer of Jesus that his followers may be one (John 17:21-23). This vision became part and parcel of the inspiration to start an evangelistic agency Stichting Goed Nieuws Karavaan in the Dutch town of Zeist in 1983 with believers from different denominations. (He felt that it was the rightful responsibility of committed Christians to face the challenge of racial reconciliation in South Africa.)Later, together with Messianic Jewish and Muslim-background followers of Jesus a low profile organisation Isaac Ishmael Ministries was established in 2010. The need for successors as leaders of Friends from Abroad gave rise to the start of a new organisation in 2021, the Born Again Believers Network.Ashley and his wife have been blessed with five children and fourteen grandchildren.

Book preview

Revival Seeds Germinate

Part 1

(Revised, October 2022)

Written and compiled by

Ashley Cloete

©2022 Ashley Cloete

Revival Seeds Germinate – Part 1

(Revised)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without the written permission of the copyright holder.

ISBN 978-0-620-89114-1

Revival Seeds Germinate – Part 1 is a self-publication.

Co-Publishers: Sela Books, Born Again Believers Network

Cover Art: Fertile Ground reproduction by Anneline de Hout (done independently before the artist knew the content of the book)

Layout: Truth House Publishing

Born Again Believers Network

NPC Registration 202193291408

Account: Nedbank 1226866107

We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth.

– Andrew Murray

Much more is wrought by prayer than this world dreams of ...

– Alfred Tennyson

MAIN ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS BOOK

ANC - African National Congress

APO - African People’s Organisation

CCM - Christian Concern for Muslims

CCFM - Cape Community FM (radio)

CSV - Christelike Studentevereniging

DEIC - Dutch East India Company

DRC - Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk)

Ds. – Dominee (equivalent of Reverend)

DTS - Discipleship Training School

LMS - London Missionary Society

OM - Operation Mobilization

PAGAD - People against Gangsterism and Drugs

SACC -South African Council of Churches

SAMS - South African Missionary Society

UDF - United Democratic Front

UNISA - University of South Africa

UCT - University of Cape Town

UWC - University of the Western Cape

V.O.C - Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagne = United East India Company

WCC - World Council of Churches

WEC -Worldwide Evangelization for Christ

YWAM - Youth with a Mission

Z.A. Gesticht - Zuid-Afrikaanse Gesticht (South African Foundation)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAIN ABBREVIATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. REVIVAL SEED IN THE 18th CENTURY

The Hope Giving Cape

Advocacy For Human Dignity

Moral Degradation at the Cape

Infiltration of Slavery as a Part of the Spiritual Battle

Racial Prejudice Entrenched

Slavery Reconciled with Christian Norms

Slaves and Religious Persecution

The Negative Application of Calvinism

Start of a Prayer Chain in Germany

A Slave as God’s Divine Instrument

Herrnhut Believers Touched

Stepping Down as a Custom?

Ripples Becoming Waves of Prayer

Support For the Persecuted

A New Missionary for the Cape

Evangelical Foundations in the Mother City

Schmidt's Visit to the Town

CHAPTER 2. CONFRONTATION BETWEEN RELIGIONS

The Cape as a Place for Political Convicts

Evangelistic Neglect

Materialism As the Vogue

From Materialism to Grave Moral Degeneracy

A Challenging Islamic Response

Christian Slaves Not to be Sold

A Second Christian Spiritual Giant

Local Influence of the Prayerful Van Lier

An Advocate for Missionary Action

Progression of Idolatry to Ancestor Worship

Luther Saw the Need of Spiritual Warfare

Visible Evidence of Spiritual Warfare

A Decade of Spiritual Clashes

An Oscillating Spiritual Scale

Impact of Prayer in Europe and America

International Impact of Van Lier’s Work

Unwitting Government Aid to Islam

CHAPTER 3. AN EARLY REVIVAL MODEL

An Intimate Relationship with the Lord

Some Special Features of Herrnhut Moravianism

A Fourteen-Year-Old Chief Female Elder!

Utilizing the Zeal of Young People

Teaching to Moravian Missionaries

CHAPTER 4. REVIVAL TRAILBLAZING

A Trail Blazed for the First Cape Revival

Diverse Opposition to the New Missionaries

Genadendal Under Threat … And Saved

Spiritual Dimension after the War

Church Opposition and Dissent

A Minister with a Heart for Slaves and Khoe

Change of Heart Among Colonists

Mini Revival in Roodezand

New Cape Missionary Societies

The Crown of Van Lier’s Ministry

Counterattack of the Colonial Church

An Early Protest March

CHAPTER 5. EARLY REVIVAL STIMULATION

Spiritual Deterioration Followed By…

…Supernatural Intervention

An Earthquake Rocks the Cape and Significant Aftermath

The Bethelsdorp Revival

The Compassionate Ministry of the LMS

Adversarial Influence of Somerset

Moves in the Cape to Get Slavery Outlawed

Impact of Ordinance 50 of 1828

Scottish Ministers at the Cape

Another Blessing in Disguise

Missionary Diamonds Formed

A Special Missionary Diamond

Perseverance and Zeal

Xhosa and Zulu Bible Translations

An Autocratic Missionary Pioneer

An Anti-Colonialist Visionary

CHAPTER 6. THE EDUCATION FACTOR IN REVIVAL STIMULATION

Spadework for Revival

A Breakthrough: Indigenous Teachers

A Revolutionary Contribution

An Infant and Primary School Started

Pioneers of Teacher Training

Hallbeck's Quiet Tactics Opposing Slavery

Moravian Connivance with Injustice

The Gospel Made Practical

A Flourishing Economy at Genadendal

Another Revival in the Overberg

An Extraordinary Country Library

Indigenous Protest

Disturbances and Rebellion Prevented

A Breakthrough Regarding Race Issues?

European Individualism

Cape Churches Working Together

The Covenant of Blood River

Pioneers of Charity at the Cape

CHAPTER 7. RESULT PRODUCING NETWORKING

The Actual Emancipation of Slaves

A Heart for the Lost

Unity as a Prayer Priority

World Leaders in Church Co-operation

Influence of Genadendal

Gray and Grey at the Cape

Lovedale Matches Genadendal

'Whites' Streamed to Hear a 'Black' Preacher

Stirrings in the Eastern Cape and Natal

A Pivot in a World-Wide Move of God

Messianic Jewry – an Ally of the Cross

Two Jewish Brothers Enrich the Cape

A Special Clan

A Rare Breed

The Griquas – a Proud Indigenous Group

A Towering Figure

CHAPTER 8. NORTH AMERICAN INFLUENCE

Preaching Innovations

Start of the Palmer Ministry

Theodore Cuyler, a Revival Fore-Runner

Revival in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada)

Run-up to the 1857/8 Revival in America

A Significant Year for the Palmer Couple

A Book with a Massive Influence

Seed Germination of Slavery Abolition

Phoebe Palmer in Britain

A Methodist Episcopal Legend...

...Together with 'Black Harry'

Another Spiritual Legend

Wings to the Sunday School Movement

Targeted Outreach to the Unchurched

CHAPTER 9. MOVES IN AND FROM BRITAIN

The Haldane Revival

The Revival Hits the UK

The Revival Arrives in Liverpool

The Liverpool Penitentiary

The Revival Spreads to Wales

Another Revival in Scotland

Effect of the Awakening in Britain

The Prince of Preachers

Tragedy – a Mysterious God at Work

D.L. Moody in England

A Gifted Hymn Writer and Music Teacher

A Blind Hymn Writer of Note

A Special British Follow-Up

Influence of Hudson Taylor

Missionary Recruitment

A Welsh Revival with Pentecostal Ramifications

Origins of the Pentecostal Revival

CHAPTER 10. RUN-UP TO THE BIG CAPE REVIVAL

Cape Efforts to Stimulate Revival

A Call to Prayer

Apathy Challenged

The Revival Run-Up in Worcester

Sparks That Prepared the Revival

CHAPTER 11. THE BIG CAPE REVIVAL TAKES OFF

Prayers for Revival and Cries for Mercy

The Worcester Revival Began on a Farm

Andrew Murray Joins the Revival

An Eyewitness Account

Widespread Impact among Farm Workers

Revival Fires Spread from the Boland

God at Work in Paarl

Widespread 10 Days of Prayer

A New Wave of Blessing

Revival Sweeps Through Paarl

Pentecost in Paarl 1861

The Holy Spirit Swept Away Calvinia’s Resistance

Revival in the Mother City

A Clear Link to Missions

Missions: The Prime Function of the Church?

Spiralling of Missions from the Cape

Revival of 1874

The Love of God as Proper Motivation

Further Contributions of Andrew Murray

A Cape Catalyst of Missions

The Crowning of the Andrew Murray Legacy

CHAPTER 12. CURBS OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

The Dearth of Prayer for Unity

Slaves Perceived as Property

Negative Attitudes Towards the Khoisan

Bad Teaching of Colonists

Fraudulent and Materialistic Ambition

Perpetuating a Bad Custom

Repressive Denominationalism

Doctrinal and Language Discrimination

Moravians Regarded as ‘Criminals’

Cape Freemason Origins

The Opposition of the Dutch Authorities

Freemasonry in the Cape Church

Bigotry

Doctrinal Bickering and Traditionalism Eroded Revival Seed

A Doubling Effect of Bickering?

Revival-Negating Prejudice and Arrogance

Sour Grapes?

Historical Guilt

Missionaries’ Constraints

Enserfment

Influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Negative Legacies of the LMS and the Moravians

Bad Seed of British-Dutch Rivalry

An Ambivalent Dr Philip

Tension Between Mission Agencies

Evangelism Via the Barrel of the Gun?

Imperialist World View of Missionaries

The Other Side of the Coin

A Sad Saga with a Happy Ending

CHAPTER 13. OTHER MISSIOLOGICAL ISSUES

Destruction of Indigenous Culture?

Rebuttal of the Charges of Anthropologists

Dearth of Positive Witnessing

Division Along Racial Lines

Church Apartheid is Born

Carnality Hits Church Unity

Racial Segregation Enshrined

The Language and Race Issue

Internal Bickering of Religious Leaders

Liberalism As a Source of Dissension

Theologians In Fierce Rivalry

Jewish-Christian Polemics

Islam at the Crossroads

The Rescue of Cape Islam

A Good Expression of Biblical Christianity

The Birth of Afrikaans and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism

Failure to Learn from Our Forefathers

Quenching the Spirit

Competition, Racism, and Rivalry

Murray’s Legacy Undermined

Bigotry Breeds Hatred

Paternalism Breeds Secession

CHAPTER 14. CAPE REVIVAL FRUIT

Precursors of Spiritual Warfare

Harmonious Religious Relationships

The Keswick Movement as Indirect Fruit

A Grossly Underrated Missionary

Evangelism Takes Off in the Mother City

Women in Spiritual Renewal at the Cape

The Emancipation of Women Prepared

Start of the YWCA

Calling of a Prophet

A Meritorious Tradition Maligned

APPENDIX

The Legacy of Lamin Sanneh, Colonial Missionary Impact, World Christianity, and Muslim – Christian Dialogue

Pioneering Studies in World Christianity

Promoting Muslim-Christian dialogue

A Witness in His Time

REFERENCES

GLOSSARY

FROM THE AUTHOR / COMPILER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank God especially for a wonderful wife and supportive children, whom God has used in different ways in my life. I am also grateful for oral information that I have been able to collate over the years from so many people. Individual acknowledgement would be impossible yet I wish to thank all of those involved generally, but nevertheless very cordially.

A special note of thanks is hereby extended to Wendy Ryan, a believer from Trinidad (West Indies) who edited the manuscript in the early stages. Wendy came into our frame at just the right moment with invaluable advice when I started contemplating getting Seeds Sown for Revival printed as a book.

I met Anthea Abraham, a Cape journalist in the course of an effort to get Devil’s Peak the mountain peak above the Mother City of South Africa renamed to Dove's Peak. She suggested that I get a more competent authority to look at the historical content before any further move towards publication.

My long-time friend Henry (Jatti) Bredekamp obliged without any ado. (He is an emeritus professor at the University of the Western Cape. There he had been leading the Institute of Historical Research for many years till he retired early, to be appointed the first 'Black' CEO of the Iziko Museums of SA, including the prestigious SA Museum.) His thorough editing took me not only back to the proverbial drawing board, but ultimately also to earlier manuscripts that I had posted on the internet. That brought about a significant delay in the effort towards publication, but I took this delay in my stride because I have been wary all along of getting any material printed which would only feature on library shelves.

When the draft of what I considered to be a fairly final version of the manuscript, Marlene Gildenhuys, a dear friend, connected me to Ms Margaret Stephens, a member of the Mowbray Baptist Church. Marlene has been the pivot of a prayer group that started at that venue in 2018. From October 2019 Margaret proofread the version in her possession which, however, was worked on quite a lot since then. The present version needed another bout of proofreading, for which Marlene immediately obliged graciously.

The Corona virus and the lockdown from 26 March 2020 suddenly gave me some extra time, during which I could make some significant changes. At the beginning of January 2022, I was introduced to Alaythea Hamlyn of Truth House Publishing, who subsequently assisted with the editing and improving of the first edition of this book, in digital formal and for print. Herewith, special acknowledgement and gratitude for her patience.

For bibliographical detail and the origins of quotations the reader is referred to unpublished manuscripts such as Spiritual Dynamics at the Cape, Mysterious Ways of God and The Mother of the Nation. Along with other titles, this material is accessible at www.isaacandishmael.blogspot.com

I hereby also gratefully and especially acknowledge a nudge of Reverend Douglas Bax. After reading the e-book version of Revival Seeds Germinate Part 1 at the end of last year he commented as follows: ... I think it is the kind of book which we have needed profoundly in South Africa. You could also consider submitting it as a thesis for a degree if you were prepared to add all the footnotes that it would need!

I had consciously kept footnotes and references to an absolute minimum, to reduce an academic vibe as far as possible, and also changed vocabulary to make it more readable for rank-and-file readers.

The remarks of Rev. Bax coincided more or less with my 'bumping' into a hitherto unpublished manuscript on my blog, for which Dr Bennie Mostert had written a forward, viz. The Fore-runners, the Run-up and the Aftermath of the Cape 1860/61 Revival. I have no intention to pursue academic accreditation, but I do sense that some readers of material of this nature might like to know the sources of references etc. I do hope that the few references for which there are still question marks in the text, can be rectified in due course.

INTRODUCTION

Revival Seeds Germinate is the culmination of a great deal of research, a passion that stretched over many years. The book tracks South African history, with particular reference to the Cape, from a spiritual perspective. It spans the period from the first Dutch settlers at the Cape to the early 20th century, detailing how the influences of the Kingdom of God worked to bring about certain accomplishments for the good of the nation at large, and how those influences were also constantly undermined by the work and influence of the kingdom of darkness. The entire narrative weaves individual’s lives with the political, spiritual, and economic life of the Cape, the nation at large, and concurrent movements around the world. I have included some little-known facts of how South Africans in general and Cape-dwellers in particular influenced and steered revivals in other nations, and the powerful and ongoing influence of great saints such as Andrew Murray whose work was important seed sowed into the history of the prayer movement. Germination would be evident in following generations. Numerous missionaries and the various unacknowledged translators of the Scriptures into indigenous languages all contributed towards building a sound spiritual heritage nationally and globally.

This book is in one sense a revision of Seeds Sown for Revival and therefore repetition in this version of the earlier edition was inevitable. In another sense this version is substantially different; including having much autobiographical material in Parts 2 and 3.

I have included information in this book from hitherto unpublished manuscripts like Honger na Geregtigheid, Some Things Wrought by Prayer and Spiritual Dynamics at the Cape. A significant addition is material taken from my studies about the biggest Cape revival to date.¹

Ashley Cloete, Cape Town, November 2022

Chapter 1

REVIVAL SEEDS IN THE 18th CENTURY

The Portuguese name Cabo da Boa Esperança (Cape of Good Hope in English) dates from the days of exploration in the 15th century when the European monarchs of Spain and Portugal sent maritime explorers into uncharted places in search of wealth. The first European mentioned in their reports to see the Cape was the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who named the place Cabo das Tormentas based on his experience of storms at sea there. His King, Joao II, later changed the name to Cabo da Boa Esperança (Cape of Good Hope) because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East.

The Hope Giving Cape

In the spiritual realm, the ambivalent role of the Cape was highlighted from its pristine beginnings in this way. The Dutch had already intended in 1619 to create a half-way station there between Europe and the East and the British also had similar ideas in the interim. The shipwreck of the East Indiaman Nieuwe Haerlem in 1647 resulted in a pivotal communication from two of the stranded crew members.

In a report to the directors of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie, VOC) the two stranded crew members – Janzoon and Proot – after their involuntary extended stint at the Cape, provided a surprising motivation in their Remonstrantie for the establishment of a halfway refreshment station in Table Bay. Contrary to prevalent European perceptions of the indigenous people, their document projected a favourable impression of those whom they encountered.

The two Remonstranten of the VOC expressed a wish that such an establishment would offer an opportunity to bring the gospel to the indigenous Khoi/Khoe people. The favourable impression that the Cape indigenous people had given them during those few months in Table Bay, motivated the two Dutch survivors of the wreck, to see the Khoe in a positive light as potential candidates for 'the magnifying of God’s Holy Name and for the propagation of the gospel.'

Advocacy for Human Dignity

Thus, the two Dutchmen unintentionally became, in my estimation, the first activists who fought for the human dignity of the First Nation of our country. Even more significantly, a century later, the first real missionary initiative in the fight for dignity and justice on behalf of those so-called Hottentots (Khoe) would come from the Herrnhut-based missionary Georg Schmidt. His landing in Table Bay as a pioneer preacher to the heathen in 1737 had been preceded by the establishment of a VOC refreshment station in 1652 under the command of the trader Jan van Riebeeck. Under van Riebeeck the VOC servants and slaves had to serve passing fleets between Europe and the Company’s colonised territories in the Far East with provision. The Cape had developed into a vital supplier of fresh food to voyagers passing the Cape of Good Hope on the long voyage around Africa when the missionary Schmidt stepped ashore in 1737. In the spiritual realm this could be regarded as a harbinger of the redemptive history of the Cape, to nourish people from the nations in many ways. Initially, however, the opposite was the de facto reality.

Moral Degradation at the Cape

Strong drink played a central role in the popular culture and leisure of the first settlers of the Mother City, which became known as 'The Tavern of the Seas ...and the Brothel of the Oceans'. Dutch sailors had a reputation in Europe for being excessive drinkers. The widespread alcoholism in Cape colonial society thus has some early roots in this way. Add to that the 'dop system' of remuneration whereby farm workers received wine of inferior quality in exchange for their labour. This situation was thankfully checked and corrected to some extent by the pious refugee French Huguenots who arrived from 1688. They brought with them divine blessings.

The love and zeal for Christianity among those colonists became however zeer lauw en flauw (very lukewarm and timid) in due course. The example set by the first Cape clergymen, accountable to the Dutch Reformed Classis (Presbytery) of Amsterdam, also left a lot to be desired in matters of the faith. A grave moral deterioration soon became apparent among the Table Bay settlers.

Nachtigal, a highly rated historian who reported 18th century mission relations, aptly summarized the period 1685 until 1736, using the phrase ‘the estrangement between colonists and Coloureds’. He highlighted this as a hindrance to further missionary work. It appears that the churches in the countryside – Roodezand (Tulbagh), Drakenstein (Paarl), Stellenbosch and Zwartland (Malmesbury) – took much longer to baptise and admit people of colour to communion.

Infiltration of Slavery as a Part of the Spiritual Battlefield

It is no co-incidence that an unseen battle was revolving around slaves at the Cape from the outset. The slaves who came to the Cape in the 17th century turned out to be an important part of the ideological battleground of the forces in the spiritually unseen world.

The teaching of the zieketrooster (sick comforter), who was usually not theologically trained, was often problematic. Yet, the sick comforters did play a role in setting a standard at the Cape that would substantially influence the religious life at the Cape. Pieter van der Stael, who came in 1656, was described as ‘doing the work of an evangelist.’ Van der Stael was very zealous for the gospel, and opened a school for slave children. He also tried to explain the Christian faith to the indigenous beach rangers. It is interesting that this sick comforter already introduced fasting and prayer during the winter of 1656. Such serious sickness abounded that ‘the council considered this being beyond doubt a punishment inflicted upon them for their sins’, and Thursday, 29 June 1656 was set aside as a day of prayerful fasting, where the early Cape inhabitants beseeched the Almighty to have mercy