The
end of Groen van Prinsterer’s life.
On May 19 of the year 1876 Groen
van Prinsterer passed away in Christ. Mrs. Groen van Prinsterer formulated the
text of the mourning-letter thus: ‘Today my very beloved husband Guillaume
Groen van Prinsterer passed away, in an unshakable faith in his Lord and
Saviour, to Whom he had dedicated his life.’ In the December issue of 1875 of
the periodical Nederlandse Gedachten (Dutch Thoughts) Groen van
Prinsterer had written his spiritual testament, as he felt his end nearing.
That reads as follows: ‘I am
going to die with the prayer of the Publican: O God! Be merciful to me a
sinner! With the words of the Heidelberg Catechism: my only comfort in
life and death. With the shout of joy: I thank God through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. With the battle-song of the Reformation: put on the whole armour of God,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word. With the motto: not a statesman,
but a confessor of the Gospel.’