ympathy for all
oppressed and suffering people. They pushed to the farthest limit {117}
their opposition to war and all other forms of destroying human life.

From the first there was a decided strain of "Enthusiasm" evident in the
movement, and a pronounced tendency to encourage a ministry of "prophetic
openings." One of the original members, John Van der Kodde, declared
that he should fear the loss of his salvation if he failed in a meeting
to give utterance to the Word of God revealed to him in his inner being.
They encouraged the custom of silent waiting in their gatherings as a
preparation for "openings." They proved from the fourteenth chapter of 1
Corinthians that free prophecy is the highest form of ministry, and they
held that God by His grace could pour out His Spirit upon men in the
seventeenth century as well as in the days of the Apostles and
Evangelists, who did their mighty work, not as Church officials, but as
recipients of gifts from God. They felt that prayer accompanied by
_tears_ was true prayer, "moved" from above. They, however, were persons
of scholarship and refinement, and not tumultuous or strongly emotional,
but, on the contrary, they highly valued dignity and propriety of
behaviour.

As the movement spread, _Collegia_, or societies, were formed in Leyden,
Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and in other localities, essentially like the
mother-society in Rynsburg, but with characteristic variations and with
particular lines of local developments. Once every year they had a large
yearly meeting in Rynsburg, to which the scattered members came from all
parts of Holland where there were societies. As time went on, two marked
lines of differentiation appeared in the movement, due to the trend of
the influence of important leaders, one group emphasizing especially the
_seeker-attitude_, and the other group receiving its formative influence
from Cartesian philosophy. Daniel Van Breen, Adam Boreel, and Michael
Comans were the early leaders and pillars of the Amsterdam _Collegium_,
which was begun in 1645, and some years later the group was greatly
strengthened by the "convincement" of the young Mennonite doctor and
{118} teacher, Galenus Abrahams, who soon became the most prominent
Collegiant leader in Holland.

Adam Boreel gave the movement a strong impetus and did much toward
putting the teachings of Coornhert into practice. He was born at
Middleburg in 1603. He was a man of good scholarship, being e