Abraham Kuyper from George H. Dryer History of the Christian Church Vol. V

Abraham Kuyper, born in 1837, is the other evangelical leader in Holland. He was educated at Leyden - under Scholten and Kuenen. He knew from personal experience the lack of vitality and spiritual power in their teachings, and he represents the strongest reaction against them. This came from his finding, studying, and winning a prize for an edition of the works of John a Lasco, the Polish Reformer of the sixteenth century. From that time he has been a sturdy Calvinist. As pastor at Beest and Utrecht he stood by the side of Groen as leader of the Old Reform party in the State Church from 1869. On Groen's death in 1876, he succeeded to the leadership of the party. He became editor of the Standard in 1870, and later founded the Herald.

Since 1874 he has been Deputy in the National Legislature. In 1878 he founded a Union to support free Christian schools. It has an income of $50,000 a year. In 1880 he founded a free university, independent of the State. Preachers who followed him were excluded from the National Synod; but in 1885 one hundred and fifty Churches followed the example of Amsterdam in welcoming these preachers as their pastors. They have their independent organization but there is no formal breach with the State Church.

These Churches, under the lead of Kuyper, have entered into an alliance with the Roman Catholics. Their point of contact is religious instruction in the schools of the land. The opening of the new century saw this leader of the Calvinistic reaction against the naturalism and Free Religion of Scholten and Kuenen the Prime Minister of Holland.