Author. Isaac da Costa received notoriety for being a Dutch author during the 19th century. Born in to an aristocratic family of Portuguese-Jewish descent, he converted to Calvinistic Protestantism, becoming a prolific writer and strong reactionary. His father was a merchant, and provided him with an excellent Jewish education. By the age of 23, he spoke ten languages and had earned degrees in languages, literature, and law by 1818. On June 21, 1821, he received his PhD in philosophy. Receiving much attention, he published in 1813 his collection of poems, “In Praise of Poetry.” In 1814 he published his patriotic poem, “The Redemption of the Netherlands,” which ranked him among noted German and French poets. His Hebrew teacher introduced him to Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk. Bilderdijk became his mentor, tutor, and eventually, a close friend. Da Costa was well respected and strongly influenced his community in politics, and science. Although Bilderdijk was known for being a zealous, conservative Calvinistic Protestant, Bilderdijk did not push Christianity on him, but eventually he converted from Judaism to Christianity. Da Costa was baptized into the Christian faith in 1822. At the age of 22, he became interested in the New Testament of the Bible, starting a Sunday evening Bible study that lasted for decades with many of these lessons being published. Bilderdijk and da Costa where against the liberalism of the Enlightenment movement and the lax attitudes of the French Revolution, which was embraced by many writers of that day. Battling Enlightenment. he published the pamphlet “Objections to the Spirit of the Age” in 1823. The pamphlet became part of the Dutch Réveil, a movement within Protestantism, where a person has a personal Divine experience with God. Besides publishing several collections of “Poems,” other publications of his include “Israel and the Gentiles,” “God With Us,” “Lectures on Acts,” ”Four Witnesses,” and several books on the history of Israel. Many of his books are still in print and in several languages. He translated part of the English poet, Lord Byron's “Cain.” From 1834 to 1840, he was the editor of the periodical, “Dutch Voices,” which comprised the bulk of his religious and political writings. In the last years of his life, he wrote Willem Bilderdijk's biography and edited 15 volumes of Bilderdijk’s poetry. He published “Hagar” in 1852 and “The Battle of Nieuport” in 1857. He became the director of the seminary established in Amsterdam in connection with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland.