Ds. Michiel Vos
Full name: Michiel Christiaan Vos
Lifespan: 1759 Cape Town - 1825 Tulbagh
Occupation: NG Kerk minister, missionary
Vos was a pioneering South African-born Dutch Reformed Church minister, noted for his missionary zeal, energetic evangelization of slaves and Khoi-Khoi, and role in early missionary societies at the Cape.
A man of incessant energy despite being troubled throughout his life with a painful skin disease (dauwworm / dermatitis / exzema), Vos was born in Cape Town as the youngest of five children. His family had Pietist influences; his maternal grandfather was a freed slave (Michiel Bok), giving him slave descent on his mother’s side. His father came from Batavia, his mother, Johanna Bok, was born in Cape Town. Orphaned young (father Jan Hendrik Vos from Batavia died early), he received what education was available locally and was apprenticed as a silversmith to his older brother, Jan Hendrik Vos.
- One of his older brothers, Jacobus Johannes Vos (1756 Cape - 1819 Caledon), lived in the Drakenstein (Paarl) area and was a respected Cape burgher/colonist involved in early evangelical and missionary-minded circles. In 1798, when a fire destroyed the granary at the Castle, he was sent to establish the amount of corn available in the colony. He visited 450 farms, and Governor Dundas rewarded him with a silver cup for his effort.
From 1774, having read some religious books, he felt called to church service and evangelization of slaves and indigenous people.
The Orphan Chamber refused to release his inheritance due to him being a minor. To gain legal adulthood and access the funds for study abroad, he married Elisabeth Johanna Jacobs in 1779 after a very short courtship. She remained at the Cape. Despite opposition, including from Governor van Plettenberg, he sailed for Europe in 1780.
- Elisabeth Johanna Jacobs (1758-1805) was the daughter of Jan Jacobsz (or Jacobse/Jacobs) (1710-1786) from Holland. He started as a VOC deckhand, made multiple voyages via the Cape, and became a vrijburger (free citizen) in 1748. As farmer and Burgher Brandmeester he was a respected and prominent member of Cape society.
Ministry in the Netherlands and Return to the Cape
In August 1781 Vos began studies at the University of Utrecht. He was ordained and became minister of Woudenberg in July 1785. As he was unable to secure an appointment at the Cape, his wife joined him in the Netherlands after more than six years apart. He served successively at Woudenberg, Pijnacker, and Woerden (for a total of 9 years).
He returned to the Cape in March 1794 - Governor Sluysken appointed him to Roodezand (Tulbagh). His sphere was more limited than that of contemporaries like Ds. H.R. van Lier in Cape Town, but he devoted much effort to Christianizing slaves in the neighbourhood and holding prayer meetings with Europeans. His first sermon, based on Mark 16:15 (“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”), directly reminded slave-owners of their obligations.
- Ds. Helperus Ritzema van Lier (1764 Netherlands - 1793 Cape Town) arrived at the Cape in 1786. "...under Van Lier’s fostering influence a fervent missionary spirit was kindled in South Africa. In 1788, a number of Christians banded themselves together to devote certain days of the week to spiritual effort on behalf of slaves and Hottentots." This was an early spark of the “missionary awakening” at the Cape.
Around 1794, shortly after Ds. Michiel Vos arrived at Roodezand (Waveren/Tulbagh), the consciences of many slave-owners in his congregation were awakened. They admitted to him that they were only beginning to recognize their responsibility for the moral and spiritual welfare of their slaves.
Rev. Vos noted that farmers were initially very resistant to sending their slaves to his religious classes. However, they eventually sent a few to avoid offending him. Once the farmers saw that these slaves were more content and productive, they became much more supportive of the initiative.⁶
Vos successfully raised the funds needed to expand the church and repay a portion of the congregation's debt to the Cape Church Board. A wall was also built around the graveyard⁶
At the farmers’ own request, Vos prepared a simple catechism for the instruction of slaves and Hottentots (Khoi-Khoi). Handwritten copies of this booklet quickly spread among the farmers.
Vos’s work extended well beyond his local congregation. He travelled to distant outlying farms to urge colonists to provide religious instruction to their slaves and servants. Because his enormous parish stretched so far - some parishioners lived up to ten days’ journey from the church - he divided it into six districts: Roodezand, Twenty-four Rivers, South of the Breede River, Swellendam, Bokkeveld, and Roggeveld. He visited each district as frequently as possible, though he noted that it took him a full two years to complete one entire round of visits.²
The Roodezand church became a centre for early missionary activity; the first missionaries ordained in South Africa were ordained there. In 1799, following the arrival of the first London Missionary Society (LMS) missionaries, Vos befriended four of them: Dr. J.T. van der Kemp, J.J. Kicherer, John Edmonds & William Edwards. He ordained Edmonds and Edwards at Roodezand. Vos helped form the Zuid-Afrikaansche Zendelinggenootschap (South African Missionary Society) with C.P. Slotsboo, with later branches in rural areas.
- The Zuid-Afrikaansche Zendelinggenootschap (Zuid-Ajrikaansche Genootskap ter bevordering van de uitbreijding van Christus Rijk) is widely regarded as the first (or one of the very first) local missionary society in South Africa, established by Cape colonists themselves and primarily supported by members of the Dutch Reformed Church. It was established in April 1799, shortly after the arrival of the first London Missionary Society (LMS) party. Vos was one of the nine directors. The society was interdenominational in spirit but drew its main strength from DRC members. It operated alongside (and in cooperation with) the LMS rather than in competition.
- Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp (1747 Netherlands - 1811 Cape Town) was a Dutch military officer, doctor, philosopher,and missionary. He helped found the Nederlandsche Zendinggenootschap. He arrived at the Cape in 1799.
- Johannes Jacobus Kicherer (1775-1825) was a prominent Dutch missionary with the London Missionary Society (LMS) who pioneered mission work among the San ("Bushmen") people in South Africa's Zak River area from 1799 to 1806.
Strained relationship between Cape burghers (Dutch farmers/colonists) and missionaries arose from two main factors: the farmers’ naturally suspicious attitude and the somewhat narrow perspective of the missionaries. The farmers distrusted missionary work aimed at improving the temporal and spiritual conditions of the Hottentots (Khoi-Khoi). This reaction is understandable in context: the colonists themselves lived in significant mental and spiritual neglect. Many were illiterate, could not read or write, and had no access to teachers or schools for their own children. They therefore resented the establishment of mission schools that provided education to Hottentot children - an opportunity denied to their own families.²
Allegations of adultery & increased missionary activity (‘the new Pietism’), and his work with the slave-descended Machteld Smith - prevented the further baptism of non-whites (basters). Besides the children of white parentage those of mixed descent became members of the congregation only when baptised.
- Machteld / Magteld Smith / Schmidt born Magdalena Combrink (bef. 1749 - 1821) also known as "Mother Smith" was a decendant of Cape-born freed slaves. She offered her home in Tulbagh as a mission school. In 1797 and 1800 she accompanied Vos on missions to Baviaanskloof.
Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg visited Roodezand in 1795 and noted its strategic position as the “key to the country behind the chain of mountains.” Most of the remote farmers who visited the Cape once a year passed through the settlement.
Later Career, Travels, and Controversies
Vos’s restless disposition prevented him from staying long in one place. In 1802, after the Peace of Amiens - due to pressure from his wife, and under a cloud of controversy - he left for England. Soon after his arrival, the LMS asked him to accompany a few missionaries to Asia. In 1804 he led a party of six missionaries to India. At Tranquebar his first wife died, leaving no children. He continued to Colombo and Point de Galle (Ceylon/Sri Lanka), where he married Johanna Petronella Torriano van Geyzel (1781 Sri Lanka - 1835 Tulbagh) in c.1805, a Dutch widow of an English officer; they had five children. Difficulties arose with other clergymen over differing interpretations of duties, making his position unpleasant, so he moved to Negapatam (India).
- The Peace of Amiens (1802) was a diplomatic agreement signed in Europe on 25 March 1802. It briefly placed the Cape under Dutch rule. For the first time, freedom of religious worship was officially protected for all denominations.
In 1809 he returned via Madras to the Cape, now under British rule. Vos was comfortable swearing allegiance to the new British administration that replaced the Dutch authorities at the Cape. Although this severed his formal ties with the Classis of Amsterdam, he found that the new government was supportive and willing to accommodate his requests.⁶
In 1810 he was stationed at Zwartland (Malmesbury) - where his missionary emphasis proved unpopular with some due to:
- "a considerable neglect in the observance of religious duties & confusion & discord among the parishioners".
- a high degree of heathen (Khoe) & slave baptisms
- his charismatic style of preaching
- Rademan had donated funds towards the enlargement of the Roodezand church in 1796.
Legacy and Writings
Vos wrote his autobiography in 1819 (Merkwaardig Verhaal, published 1824 in Amsterdam), which details his life, spiritual experiences, travels, and missionary work as guided by providence. He is remembered as one of the earliest Afrikaner-born ministers (variously counted as the second or fourth locally born) who advanced the “missionary awakening” at the Cape, promoted catechesis and outreach to slaves and Khoi-Khoi, and helped improve conditions for Christian instruction despite colonial resistance. His efforts sometimes caused division, but they laid groundwork for broader evangelization.
By 1816, Vos appears to have owned 22 slaves.¹
- Michiel Christiaan Vos
- Du Plessis, J. (1911) A History of Christian Missions in South Africa.
- Lichtenstein, H. (1815) Travels in southern Africa in the years 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806.
- Green, L.G. (1957) Beyond the City Lights.
- Jacobús Johannés Vos
- Boeseken, A. et al. (1989) The Secluded Valley.
Comments
Post a Comment