Divine Warrant and Political Discipline: Preaching on the Groningen <i>Landdag</i> in the Third Quarter of the Seventeenth Century in the City of Groningen

Abstract At the end of the sixteenth century in the (nascent) Dutch Republic, a new balance between government and Church was set as the Reformed Church became the public church. In the public church, the government had the authority to announce special days of prayer without permission from the ecclesiastical authorities. Furthermore, ministers were expected to give religious justification for the government’s policy. This article presents a case study of special days of prayer in the city of Groningen. Every year a special church service was held in Groningen on the so-called Groninger Landdag , the day on which the States distributed the official positions. This paper discusses two sermons delivered by Groningen ministers on such a Groninger Landdag. The first is the 1650 sermon from Johannes Martinus, the second the 1666 sermon from Thomas Alberthoma. I will argue that these sermons show how the ministers operated as civil servants and followed the government, and at the same time operated as servants of the Word of God and therefore could be critical towards the authorities. The regents needed divine warrant for their position.