Maurik, Willem van (1625-1710)

Willem (Wilhelm) van Maurik (Maurick, Mourick), born ca. 1625 at Utrecht, died 1710 at Amsterdam, was a physician and a Mennonite minister. On 21 February 1658 he was chosen as preacher of the Utrecht Flemish congregation. Being rather progressive and of Collegiant inclination, he was soon involved in trouble with the conservative part of the congregation, particularly with his co-preacher Robbert Jansz van Hoogveldt, who was very conservative. Van Hoogveldt severely censured van Maurik's officiating in the Waterlander congregation of Rotterdam, and accused him of heresy. Then van Maurik, acting with three co-preachers, Arent van Heuven, Johann Andriesz van Aken, and Goris van Aldendorp, who were in sympathy with van Maurik, published a confession of faith, Een Belydenisse aengaende de voomaemste Leer-stucken (Utrecht, 1659). Though this confession was couched in orthodox terms, its moderation, laying more stress upon Christian practice than upon Christian doctrine, displeased the conservative leaders of the congregation; van Hoogveldt wrote his Korte doch nodighe Waerschouwinghe (n.p., 1659), and the conservatives felt obliged to present a number of questions to van Maurik and his three colleagues. They at first refused to answer, but finally reluctantly gave a reply. This seems to have satisfied the conservatives; at least in January 1660 peace was restored. But the quarrel arose anew. Apparently at the instigation of van Hoogveldt the city government presented twelve questions, which had been drawn up by the Reformed minister Cornelis Gentman (see also Geuzenvragen), to van Maurik. Van Maurik did not reply and the city governors dropped the matter. But now the conservatives, charging van Maurik and his three colleagues with Collegiant sympathies and heresy, arranged a meeting in which the leaders from the outside (buitenmannen) were invited to make a decision. The meeting was held at Utrecht from 29 July- 11 August 1661. Among the buitenmannen, all of whom were conservative leaders, were T. J. van Braght from Dordrecht, Bastiaan van Weenigem and Jean Boenes from Rotterdam, and Isaac Snep from Haarlem. On 10 August they suspended van Maurik, van Aldendorp, van Heuven, and Andriesz from their office. Deep dissension arose in the congregation because many members were in sympathy with the suspended preachers. Finally in July 1664 van Maurik with his following withdrew from the main body and began to hold separate meetings. The root of the conflict was the question whether the Flemish church was the true and only Christian church on earth. Van Hoogveldt and the conservatives affirmed this question, van Maurik and his followers denied it. The division lasted until 1675, when the two groups reunited. In 1673 van Maurik had moved to Amsterdam. Here he was at once appointed preacher of the Lam and Toren congregation (united Flemish and Waterlander church) and worked in harmony with Galenus Abrahamsz, with whom he was so congenial. On 19 April 1706 he stood at the deathbed of Galenus. On 16 May 1706 he commemorated his colleague in a funeral sermon, which was published: Lykreden. Op Galenus Abrahamsz (Amsterdam, n.d.). He also published some posthumous works of Galenus. Besides this and the Belydenisse mentioned before, van Maurik published Wydt-loopiger Verhael van de beklaeglycke onlusten . . . teghen R. van Hoochvelt (Utrecht, 1662) and Verantwoording tegen het Placcaet van de stad Bern. In Amsterdam, as a member of the Committee for Foreign Needs, van Maurik was also active in behalf of the oppressed Swiss Mennonites.

Bibliography

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1916): 150-93.

Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam, 2 vols. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: I, No. 1254b.

Meihuizen, H. W. Galenus Abrahamsz. Haarlem, 1954: passim, see Index.

Author(s)	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1957

Cite This Article

MLA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Maurik, Willem van (1625-1710)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Maurik,_Willem_van_(1625-1710)&oldid=111852.

APA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1957). Maurik, Willem van (1625-1710). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Maurik,_Willem_van_(1625-1710)&oldid=111852.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 543-544. All rights reserved.

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