The history of the revolution in its first phase: The preparation (till 1789)

by Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer

English, Dutch (translation)

68 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Dutch historian and politician for the Anti-Revolutionary Party.

From 1829 to 1833 he acted as secretary to William II of the Netherlands in Brussels. Afterwards he took a prominent part in Dutch domestic politics, and gradually became the leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party,

Groen was ardently opposed to constitutionalist Thorbecke, the father of Dutch parliamentarism, whose principles he denounced as ungodly and revolutionary. Although Groen lived to see these principles triumph in the constitutional reforms implemented by Thorbecke, he never ceased to oppose them until his death in 1876.

Reviews

[Calen Brantley]

Ashley

I can't believe the first book I looked at is one I've been interested in. If there are multiple volumes I would like them also.

[Coyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great lecture in the series- unfortunately, these have gone out of print and are generally unavailable :( Which is sad, because van Prinsterer's ideas are completely relevant to today. Like Tocqueville said, the French Revolution is still going on. Unlike Tocqueville, we've simply accepted it as a fact of life. Van Prinsterer's resistance to it is a wake-up call we desperately need.
From the book:
"What can be learned from the experience of the revolutionary era? That man, without God, even with the circumstances in his favour, can do nothing but work his own destruction. Man must break out of the vicious revolutionary circle; he must turn to God whose truth alone can resist the power of the lie. Should anyone consider this momentous lesson of history to be more sentimental lament than advice for politics, he is forgetting that the power of the Gospel to effect order and freedom and prosperity has been substantiated by world history. let him bear in mind that whatever is useful and beneficial to mankind is promoted by the fear of God and thwarted by the denial of God. He should bear in mind especially that the revolutionary theory was an unfolding of the germ of unbelief, and that the poisonous plant which was cultivated by apostasy from the faith will wilt and choke in the atmosphere of a revival of the faith." (22)

[Pedro Camino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy buena introducción a los inicios que causó la Revolución Francesa y sus ideales fundacionales, que en palabras del autor, se debió a una incredulidad radical y odio por el Evangelio.

Quedé levemente decepcionado pero con ganas de leer el resto. Lamentablemente esta pequeña obra sólo es una pequeña parte de un libro completo. Al parecer no hay una traducción al español.