nd Wolf, and more recently improved by the moral
arguments of Kant, was the chief object of study, and had been made
obligatory since the restoration of the Dutch universities in 1816.
There was a general compromise between revelation and the old
philosophy.[92] Supernaturalism was stagnant, and gave no promise of
future progress.

While the church of Holland was in this deplorable condition, God raised
up a few men to be the instruments of new life. They were endowed with
great talents, moral heroism, and a steady purpose to elevate every
department of ecclesiastical organization. The Holy Spirit accompanied
their labors. The leaders of the group were Bilderdyk, Da Costa, Dr.
Capadose, and subsequently Groen Van Prinsterer.

The first stood at the head of the modern school of Dutch poetry, and
was one of the greatest poets ever produced by Holland. His conceptions
were vivid, his style impassioned, his diction unequaled by any of his
predecessors, and his moral life irreproachable. Having a conservative
mind, he opposed each indication of revolution with every weapon at
command. He was profoundly learned in the classics, history, and
jurisprudence. Apart from all his efforts for the religious awakening of
the people, he was the representative of the old Holland nationality. An
ardent despiser of the French spirit, imparted by the fatal principles
of 1789, he was equally opposed to the Rationalism of Germany. He
believed that if new life were kindled in the Dutch heart, it could not
be derived from without, but by a return to the pure teachings of the
fathers of the Reformation in Holland.

Da Costa and Dr. Capadose were Jews. The former looked upon the
condition of the country from the Israelitish standpoint developed in
his _Israel and the Nations_. He believed in the millennium, and saw in
it the divine cheerfulness of history, and the relief from surrounding
evils. He is well described by one of his countrymen as "the Israelite
who raised himself above the church of the Gentiles; the Israelite who
testifies against this church; the Israelite who announces the glory of
this church." He was a popular and spirited poet, excelling even his
friend Bilderdyk in the lyrical character of his verses. He hated
Rationalism in every form, and resisted whatever would interpose any
authority between the conscience of man and the word of God. His
Israelitish view made him reject the secondary authority of the
confessions of fai