A FEW RECOLLECTIONS OF ONE OF MY FORMER TEACHERS

It is my fault that as far as the time is concerned, I am too late in writing a few lines in memory of the death of the first teacher I had as I was preparing for the ministry, the Rev. W. DenHengst.

I should have known better, but it occured to me that in this past June it had been 50 years ago that this worthy teacher was taken out of the church militant into the church triumphant. As I looked it up once more, I saw that the Rev. DenHengst was born on September 4, 1859, and passed away on June 7, 1927. I hope you will excuse the mistake.

On Sunday evening, July 10, I was given some meditations on the life and death of that highly esteemed teacher. The Rev. G.H. Kersten, who passed away in 1948, once wrote about him, “He was given to us.” And, in deed that was true of him. He has been a blessing for the congregations. He did not come to the foreground in public life. His life was in the inner chamber and in his study. And that was evident in the pulpit.

In May of 1924, I came to Leiden to receive lessons from Rev. DenHengst, for training in the ministry. The Synod had appointed him to to that work. The late Rev. A. DeBlois was the first one whom he had instructed. I was privileged to be the second one to be trained by him, and a year later our friend and brother, M. Heikoop, came, who always spoke of him with much appreciation. By grace, Rev. DenHengst was a man who esteemed another better than himself. Rev. DenHengst had always hoped that many of his lessons would appear in print, but he lacked the liberty to do so.

In 1888, Classis Haarlem-Alkmaar of the Reformed Churches had declared him eligible for call, after he had successfully completed his studies at the Free University of Amsterdam. His first congregation was DenHelder where he labored until 1894. In that year he went to Veenendall. There he, too, taught the presupposed regeneration until it pleased the Lord, when DenHengst was 49 years old, to open his eyes for the necessity of true conversion.

When that work of God was glorified in his soul, he publicly confessed his guilt on the pulpit one Sunday morning. That was an unforgettable Sunday morning. The congregation was deeply impressed by the work of God. I have often been told that the Lord on that morning pricked some people in their hearts. I can still remember that the wife of a deacon, living on the Kerkewijk, testified of the wonder that during that sermon the Lord began His work in her heart. He retracted all he had preached theretofore, and from that time he seriously stressed the necessity of a personal renewing by the Holy Spirit. From day to day people gathered together to listen to what God had done in the heart of their pastor.

One of his sons, who has also passed away, but had lived through those days, told me that for six weeks no newspaper came into the house, so tender the life of God was in his soul. In those days the world meant nothing to him, his soul was filled with the love of God, and with the wonder that God had looked down upon Him. About 52 years ago when I came to the late Rev. H. Kieviet for the first time (he was also in Veenendaal) and with him visited so many of God’s children, a pleasant savor went out from the work of God. With about 900, the minister, two years later, came over into our denomination. It became impossible for him to stay where he was. The Lord gave him a place in our congregations.

The Lord gave testimony of His work when he preached his so-called trial sermon. My second instructor, the late Rev. G.H. Kersten often told me what the Rev. A. Makkenze, who was also present, said about it: “I was amazed as I listened to the explanation and the explication of the truth in all its parts, based upon the Word of God and the experience of the saints.”

For 21 years the Rev. W. DenHengst preached the Word of God in Veenendaal. His strife was very heavy there. Within there was a voice telling him that the people were anxious for him to go. That so distressed him that he accepted a call to Amsterdam. There also bonds and afflictions awaited him.

In those days there was a Rev. Ozinga, who was well-known among God’s people, and who attracted many more people than Rev. DenHengst did. It has happened there that an elder who was going to pick him up on Sunday morning to bring him to church, said as they approached the church, ‘The Lord strengthen you this morning, but I am going to hear Rev. Ozinga.” What self-denial that pastor had to exercise, and he was privileged to do so.

After almost three years in Amsterdam, he went to Leiden which was to be his last pastorate. The members of the congregation loved him, for his simplicity and his life which was in the fear of the Lord. Many members left, which also distressed him, and caused him to travel his path in sorrow. Teaching the theological students also became more difficult for him, so that in 1926 he became pastor emeritus. Instructing the students was his delight, also in that respect he was a “father”. We received many wise lessons from him.

He experienced much and severe strife in his soul. How the prince of darkness vexed and distressed him! Sharp arrows were shot at his state for eternity, but also at his calling to the ministry. A year before he left this world his soul was gladdened and set at liberty. With Student Heikoop we visited him one afternoon. His distress was great. Heikoop knelt at his bedside, and found an open door to the throne of grace. He tenderly laid that minister before God’s throne. It was an effectual prayer, and I thought of Psalm 18:6, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.” That afternoon the Lord opened the mouth of His child and servant, and he spoke of his great distress, and also how the Lord had hid His face from him so much, and that the enemy had shouted within his heart: “There is no help for him in God.” Also in regard to his office he was tortured for years, at one time more than another, with the words, “Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” The Lord then confirmed what we read in Zech. 13:7: “And I will turn my hand upon the little ones.”

At his funeral the Rev. Kersten spoke on Rev. 14:13: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” At the open grave the Rev. J.R. VanOordt, the Rev. A. Verhage, and the Rev. H. Kieviet spoke. The last one named had taken his place in Veenendaal, and spoke as chairman of the committee that had the oversight over the School. We also were requested to speak a few words about what the Lord had given us in the Rev. DenHengst. Two weeks before his death we heard him tell that the Lord had given him the privilege of losing himself in God for time and eternity, and that he was longing for the time of his departure, to be carried away to that land where there will be no more doubt, and no more sin, but where the crown shall be cast at the feet of the Lamb Who has purchased all His people with His Blood.

I would want to write much more, but at present I have no more time. And while I am finishing this article the words that Paul wrote in Gal. 1:24 came into my mind: “And they glorified God in me.”

Let us now conclude with the well-known text of Psalm 37:37: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”

His former student,

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