J.H. Van Der Palm
J.H. Van Der Palm [1]
one of the most famous of modern Dutch theologians, was born at Rotterdam, July 17, 1763. He was educated at the university in Leyden, where he was noted for purity of morals as well as for diligence in study. He was a particular favorite of the learned Schultens. After the completion of his studies he preached for some time, and gained great celebrity in the Low Countries as a pulpit orator. He possessed the Ciceronian polish, and for many years he was the Dutch orator par excellence; men of all professions acknowledged him as at the head of the art. He was also a professor of Oriental languages and antiquities at his alma mater, and as such likewise excelled his fellow-countrymen. He died Sept. 18, 1840. Van der Palm wrote much; but none of his works have been translated into English, and they are now but in limited circulation even in his own country. His biography, with ten of his sermons, has been given an English dress by one of our most valued contributors. the Rev. J. P. Westervelt, D.D., under the title Life and Character of J. H. Van der Palm, D.D., sketched by Nicholas Betts, D.D. (N.Y. 1865,- 12mo). The sermons in this volume exhibit an accuracy of thought and. expression rarely met with, and also contain passages of poetic beauty which one would scarcely expect to find in sermons written amid the fogs of Holland. The style of thought is so thoroughly English that either the work of translation has been done with remarkable skill, or else the character of the Dutch mind must resemble the English much more closely than is generally believed to be the case. (J.H.W.)
