The Life of James Arminius

by Caspar Brandt

Translator's Preface

THE name of Brandt is imperishably associated with the literature of Holland.

Gerard Brandt, a Remonstrant (or Arminian) minister and professor at Amsterdam, published, in 1671, that great work, 'The History of the Reformation in the Low Countries', which has elicited very general admiration for the impartiality of its spirit, the nobility of its sentiments, and the valuable and soul-stirring character of many of its records.

This eminent historian and divine was the father of our biographer, Caspar Brandt, who was also a minister of the Remonstrants at Amsterdam. Caspar drew up that life of Arminius, a translation of which is presented in this volume, about the beginning of the 17th century; but died just as he was preparing to put it to the press. After several years' delay it was at last edited and published by his son, Gerard, at Amsterdam, in 1724, and republished, with annotations, by the ecclesiastical historian, Mosheim, in 1725.

That Caspar was no unworthy son of the eminent historian of the Belgic Reformation will sufficiently appear, we trust, from the following pages, even under the confessed disadvantages of translation. He has here developed some of the finest qualities of the biographer — great candour and charity; consummate judgment and taste in the selection of his materials; and scholarly execution in weaving them into a symmetrical whole.

Stirring incident in the life of a theologian is what no considerate reader will expect; and certain portions of this memoir, owing to the subjects treated, can hardly fail to be regarded by some as dry and abstruse; but no one can deny it, — what many ingenuous inquirers, we trust, will feel to be an unspeakable charm, — the merit of presenting a faithful and full-length portrait of the man Arminius, and no small insight into the state and spirit of his times. The name of Arminius stands identified with that gigantic recoil from Calvinism, than which no reaction in nature could have been more certainly predicted. Of all the actors in that movement, — so fertile of mighty actors, — no one played a more conspicuous, important, and trying part than Arminius.

To high talent and cultivation, and to consummate ability as a disputant, Arminius added the ornament of spotless Christian consistency (his enemies being judges), and of a singularly noble, manly, and benevolent nature. This, with his conspicuous position, made his personal influence to be very potent and extensive.

And yet few names have ever been overshadowed by a deeper and denser gloom of prejudice than his; to utter which, as Wesley remarked, was much the same, in some ears, as to raise the cry of 'mad dog.' This is attributable partly to the latitudinarianism of some of his followers, who, revolting at the dominant faith, and maddened by oppression, resiled to the opposite extreme; and partly by the accidental circumstance that his milder scheme found general favour in the Church of England, at a time when she stood in hostile relations to the English Puritans and the Scottish Presbyterians. But these were results with which neither the man Arminius, nor the Arminian principle of conditionalism, had anything whatever to do. To trace them to him were not more just than to trace German Neology to Luther and Melancthon, and Genevan Socinianism to Calvin.

That the early Arminians had some Erastian leanings, was less their fault than their fate. On this point, at least, their high-handed opponents have no room to speak. Very plausible, no doubt, was the clamour of the Gomarists to have ecclesiastical causes tried by ecclesiastical courts; and safe, as well as plausible, for they were the dominant party; but to ascribe this to any just principles of religious liberty would be to betray sheer ignorance of the men and the times. What the Gomarists wished was full scope, in the first place, for their high-handed majority, to condemn the Arminians in due ecclesiastical form; and then to demand from Caesar, for the plenary execution of their decrees, the unshackled use of the secular arm. Bogermann, the zealous foe of the Arminians, and the president of the Synod of Dort, by which the Arminians were condemned, was one of the translators of Beza's treatise of punishing heretics with death, and pressed the Dutch magistrates with the sentiment 'that to tolerate more religions than one in a state, was to make peace with Satan.' Though driven by their circumstances to seek shelter under the protective arm of the State, the Arminians were not the less the strenuous champions at once of civil and religious liberty; and to their heroic endurance is it owing that, from being one of the most exclusive, Holland land has become one of the most tolerant countries in Europe — a result in which a modern German writer recognises, not without reason, the fulfilment of a very important part of their mission. After the rupture between the great Arminian statesmen and Prince Maurice, to whose grasping ambition they refused to immolate the young liberties of the Dutch Republic, the Gomarists, seizing their opportunity, and postponing patriotism to party, paid court to the Prince, who forthwith turned his back on the Arminians, and threw all his weight into the opposite scale. This policy smoothed the way for the summary measures of the Synod of Dort, with its tragic issues to the Arminians, —

deposition, suppression, expatriation, yea incarceration, and even death.

Hundreds of clergymen were deposed. Multitudes who refused (though plied with the bribe of a comfortable maintenance) to abstain from preaching, were sent into exile. Even organists of churches were compelled to sign the canons of the Synod of Dort. The Leyden Professors of whatever faculty who refused to do so, were displaced; and recusant students expelled. Arminian assemblies, held in the face of pains and penalties were sometimes converted by a ruthless soldiery into scenes of blood. The self-denying persistence of the persecuted Arminians was worthy, so long as then-days of trial lasted, of our own forefathers in the days of the Covenant. The million guilders of the Synod's expenses were the least part of its cost to Holland. At the very time it closed its sittings, three great Arminian statesmen, whose names occur in this biography — Grotius, Hoogerbeets, and Oldenbarneveldt, were in prison; the two former being condemned to perpetual imprisonment; the last, who had already turned his period of threescore years and ten, was led forth, a few days after the close of the Synod, to expiate on the scaffold his only crime —

incorruptible patriotism.

We allude to these facts, not for the invidious purpose of tracing the spirit of persecution exclusively to any one creed (though some creeds distil it more copiously than others), but partly to vindicate the original Arminians from exaggerated charges of Erastianism, as what their Gomarist opponents did much more to incur; and partly as appropriate supplemental information, as far as it goes, to that contained in the following memoir, which narrates the causes that ripened into the results described, ten years after Arminius had found an asylum in the grave.

The English Reformation, having for its doctrinal basis the mild views of Melancthon, Arminianism (which was a virtual revolt from Calvin to Melancthon) has all along powerfully influenced the theology of England. And yet, beyond the old translation (in 1672) of Bertius's funeral oration over Arminius, and brief gleanings from this memoir in our larger works of reference, we know of no English Life of the great Arminius, till, with a zeal, ability, and erudition worthy of his great theme, Mr James Nichols of London addressed himself to the task in the memoir prefixed to the first volume of his translation of the works of Arminius. The present translation of Brandt was nearly completed before we laid our hands on the two volumes of Mr Nichols (for the third is still due); but on doing so, we found, as we expected, that his task and ours in no way interfered. Our object was to meet the prejudice (especially in Scotland) associated with the name of Arminius, by a translation of the classic and authentic memoir by Brandt, in a form which, while tasteful, should be of a price to make it accessible to the masses of the people. Now, Mr Nichols's Life of Arminius forms part of a large and necessarily expensive work, which is not yet completed; and though Brandt's Memoir is incorporated, it is in a dislocated form, in scattered notes and appendices, while considerable portions are omitted, or reserved for the third volume. In 1843 Dr Bangs of New York, compiled from the pages of Nichols, a Life of Arminius in a form better adapted to the popular object we had in view; but being professedly but a miniature of Nichols's, it partakes of the same heterogeneous and fragmentary character; containing portions, indeed, of Brandt, but portions also from other sources, including large extracts from the works of Arminius. A simple and continuous edition of Brandt's Life of Arminius was yet wanting; and this, without interference with the respected authors named, and as a fellow-worker in the same cause, we have endeavoured to supply in the present publication.

Of the manner in which we have executed our task we leave the public to judge; merely observing, that while labouring throughout to harmonise, to the best of our judgment, these sometimes refractory compatibilities — fidelity to our author's Latin, on the one hand, and to our reader's vernacular on the other, we have allowed the scale to preponderate, where preponderate it must, on the side of literality rather than of elegance. Our object in this publication is something more than a vindication of the injured character of Arminius.

Were all such wrongs to be thus righted, 'I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.' There are multitudes of injured characters which, for any practical requirement, can well afford to lie over (as Whitefield said of his) till they be cleared up in the light of the Judgment Day. But there are other characters, — other transacted lives, —

which not to know, or to misknow, is a loss to the world. Of such sort we believe the memory of Arminius to be: a memory so beautiful that even those who are constrained to dissent from Arminius the theologian, may yet profitably contemplate, and sympathetically admire, Arminius the nobleminded, benevolent, and Christian man. For this and such ends, may God graciously accompany this little work with his blessing.

JOHN GUTHRIE.

GREENOCK, 20th Sept., 1854.

[Dedication by the editor, Gerard Brandt.]

To the eminently pious and learned Lambert Drost and George A Zonhoven, the faithful pastors of the Remonstrant Church at Haarlem and Leyden; Gerard Brandt

Greeting:

Reverend Sirs,

Special reasons exist, over and above the common interest you feel in literature and learned men, which have induced me to dedicate to you, in particular, the life, composed by my father, of James Arminius — a name of no mean lustre in Holland during the last century. For whether I reflect on the degree of veneration with which you hold sacred the memory and the doctrine of that incomparable man, or recal to mind the very close tie of friendship which you contracted with the author while he lived, or consider, finally, the favourable regard toward me personally which you have repeatedly evidenced by no dubious proofs, I shall have no difficulty in satisfying any competent judge that I have the best reasons indeed for dedicating to you this production of my father.

For, if to acknowledge favours may be regarded as part of a grateful return, what can better become me than to bear public testimony to the kindness which you have thrown around me from my tender years. Not unfrequently have you counselled me, in the slippery period of youth, to contemplate, as in a mirror, the lives of my ancestors, that thence I might derive examples of virtue and learning, and that, roused from the slumber of inaction by the trophies of hereditary fame, I might ply my studies with alacrity in the liberal arts. You have not hesitated by your counsels, admonitions, and every variety of kind offices, to lighten the burdens of orphanage, yea, and to admit me in my riper years into your intimate friendship; in short, you have at no time suffered any advantage to be shut in my face.

But to crown all, by getting your names prefixed to this work, I flatter myself that I have found fit defenders of Arminius; for not only is it your endeavour, from a regard at once to your office and to conscience, to maintain and defend his doctrine; but, that the good cause may not lack advocacy, you have, in concert with others, undertaken the care and charge of examining, and elevating to sacred functions, the young men who, as the hopes of the Remonstrant Church, are in course of training under the auspices of the illustrious Cattenburg.

I might enlarge, were it not that I have found you to be as loath to admit these commendations, as I have found other men willing to hear them; for virtue has in itself this distinguishing feature, that it would rather be honoured with a quiet admiration, and commended in silence, than eulogised in fulsome terms.

Accept, then, this memorial, such as it is, of my regard and esteem for you, which, in token of a grateful spirit, I adorn with your names. Should you be kindly disposed to honour it with your patronage, I shall have the satisfaction of reflecting that a debt has been discharged to the memory of Arminius, to the labour of my father, and to my own earnest wishes. It only remains that I pour out a heartfelt prayer to the ever blessed God, that he would long spare you in health, most excellent Sirs, for the good of your church, and of all the Remonstrants: and that you may grant me a continuance of your favourable regard.

AMSTERDAM, May 1, 1724.

[Prefatory Note by the Editor, Gerard Brandt.]

BEFORE addressing yourself, courteous reader, to the perusal of this little work, there are a few things which I think it needful to state in the outset.

Nearly thirty years have elapsed since my father, Caspar Brandt, of blessed memory, began to spend his leisure hours in penning a life of the celebrated James Arminius; and in order that the entire Christian world might be the better able to judge of the piety and doctrine of that great man, whose name had been bandied about in various rumours (even as citizens the best deserving, whether in the State or the Church, have not always a lot worthy of their endeavours, and envy, like an inseparable shadow, is the usual concomitant of glory and virtue), he thought it advisable to frame his narrative in Latin, in preference to doing so in his vernacular tongue. The materials of the work were furnished, not merely by the literary remains, previously published, of Peter Bertius, John Uitenbogaerdt, and other distinguished men of that century, but also by not a few manuscript papers of theirs, and of Arminius himself, of which hitherto no public use had been made. At last, having all but applied a finishing touch to the memoir, and while making arrangements for committing the work to the press, he was snatched from the stage of time, — leaving myself, and many good men, to bewail his loss. He had made me heir of almost all his manuscripts; among these was this life of Arminius, which, as I was not yet of age to manage my own affairs, was entrusted, in the usual way, to the faith and custody of a guardian, at whose death it passed into other hands, and there lay concealed for a good many years; till at last, upwards of. two years ago, I recovered it from its possessor.

Impelled, accordingly, by the dictate of filial affection, and by a regard to the memory of James Arminius, I send forth to the public this fruit of my fathers mental toil. I have thought it proper to premise these things to vindicate myself from the unmerited censure of some, who, being aware that a memoir of Arminius had been drawn up by my father, accused me of nevertheless procrastinating the publication of it longer than was due. Let not these, however, I pray, expect me — in accordance with the usual practice in editing memoirs, whether autobiographical, or otherwise — to advance anything in praise either of Arminius himself, or of my father. [This is an awkward sentence in the original; and it even presents a diversity of reading in different impressions of this same edition; but young Brandt's meaning is nevertheless sufficiently apparent. — TR.]

To dwell on the merits of the former would not be at all in keeping with my condition in life; while, from any such reference to the latter, — by which I might appear desirous of imposing on others, — I am restrained by a due veneration for my father's name. It concerns me more to notice the circumstance — as fitted to enhance the reader's estimate of the utility of this work — that there was a memoir by Philip Limborch, the very eminent professor of theology among the Remonstrants, of the celebrated Simon Episcopius, originally prefixed to his sermons, which, for the benefit of foreigners, was well translated into Latin by an ardent lover of letters, and, in a form similar to that of the present work, published in this city by Gallet in the year 1701; but, by what fate I know not, copies of this edition have become so rare, that it was with some difficulty that one could be obtained for my inspection. Should the rest, however, happen to be liberated from the places of confinement in which they are said to be detained, and that life of Episcopius be subjoined to these memoirs of Arminius, the two volumes will be found to embody a record of the rise and vicissitudes of the Remonstrants during a period of forty years — a record not unworthy of the study either of Dutchmen or of Protestants in other lands. Besides, it will be evident even from this, that the genius of the Christian religion consists in meekness and charity, rather than in speculative opinions in matters of faith; and how necessary in controversies that do not peril the foundations of our faith, is mutual forbearance, to foreclose many schisms into which the Church, alas! is now cruelly rent: for, as the Emperor Justinian wisely warns, in another case

— 'It is better to leave a cause untouched, than, after it is damaged, to look about for a remedy.' [L. Ult. C. in quibus caus. in integr. rest. neces. non est.]

AMSTERDAM, 1st May, 1724.

THE LIFE OF JAMES ARMINIUS

CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION OF ARMINIUS, TILL THE

COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTRY IN AMSTERDAM. A.D. 1560 TO A.D.

1588.

OF all the religious controversies which have furnished divines of recent as well as of more ancient note, with fertile matter of debate, not the least prominent, perhaps, is the oft-agitated question respecting divine predestination, and its dependent doctrines. On one side, for example, in that discussion may he found Augustine, and his followers Prosper, Hilary, and Fulgentius; on the other, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and other bishops, both of the Greek and Latin Church: — a fact admitted by all who have more attentively studied the writings of the ancients. Afterwards also, when the influence of Augustine was predominant among the Schoolmen, the question as to what was his meaning, and as to the principle on which his different statements were to be reconciled, was long keenly debated between the Franciscan and Dominican orders. Nay, even in the last century, at the very dawn of the uprising truth, there was a diversity of opinion on this point among the Protestant leaders themselves; one view being held by Luther

[Melancthon declares that, on this point, Luther's opinion, latterly at least, coincided with his own:— 'Scis me,' says he 'quaedam minus horride dicere de praedestinatione, de assensu voluntatis, de necessitate obedientise nostrae, de peccato mortali; de his omnibus scio re-ipsa Lutherum sentire eadem, sed ineruditi quaedam ejus phortikwtera dicta, cum non videant quo pertineant, nimium amant.' Epist. p. 445. Edit. 1647. — TR.], Calvin, and Beza, and another by Erasmus, Melancthon, Bullinger, Sarcerius, Latimer, and many other leaders of the Reformed faith. And more, following these last at no great interval, George Sohnius of the University of Heidelberg, Peter Baro of the University of Cambridge, and John Holmann of the Leyden University, three professors of theology; and in the provinces of Friesland, Guelderland, and Holland, Anastasius Veluanus, Hubert Duifhusius (or Dovehouse), Snecanus, and other men of note in these Low Countries, differed from others in their views of this subject, without injury, however, to ecclesiastical peace or brotherly concord.

But when a number of pastors, particularly those who had prosecuted theological studies at Geneva, or in the University of Heidelberg, put forth unremitting and strenuous efforts, in lower Germany, to convert their own harsher opinion on the Divine decrees into law, and either debar dissentients from the sacred office, or, if already in office, to expel them, there was no one, in this century at least, who resisted the attempt so openly and manfully, as JAMES ARMINIUS, doctor and professor of theology, of no mean name, in the University of Leyden, in Holland, upwards of eighty years ago. But, as the reputation of this man has been assailed by many writers, and he himself traduced as Holland's unpropitious star, and as the leader and author of that disgraceful schism which has, in the most grievous manner, convulsed the Reformed churches - in the Low Countries — just as if his object had been to pile up for himself, out of their ruins, a stepway to fame — I may be admitted, perhaps, to have performed no unworthy office to his blessed memory, if, from various and most authentic documents, as many as I could lay my hands upon, I furnish the public with a faithful and compendious memoir of his life.

To commence, then, with his nativity: — JAMES HERMANNS (or HERMANSON) was his original name; but, after the example of Capnio, Erasmus, Melancthon, Sadeel, and other eminent men, who, guided by a similarity either of sound or of signification, adopted other than their original names, he afterwards allowed it to be latinised into ARMINIUS. He was born A.D. 1560, the self-same year that terminated the earthly career of a theologian of highest name, that illustrious ornament of the Reformation —

Philip Melancthon, of whom the Emperor Ferdinand is reported to have declared, on being apprised of his death — 'That man was always distinguished for the moderation of his counsels.' [Bucholceri Chronol.] Even so does the Great Disposer control human events; and as in the firmament, while some stars set, others rise; so, in this lower sphere, when one renowned for learning and piety dies, forthwith another arises and takes his place, till at last, from among the crowd of his fellow-mortals, he stands out conspicuous as a star, and in point of mental endowment and moral excellence, will bear comparison with those who have finished their life and their labours.

The birthplace of Arminius was OUDEWATER, which some call Old Waters

[Its literal meaning. — TR.], a small town of South Holland, distinguished, not only by the loveliness of its circumjacent plains, and by the Yssel that flows through it, but also, and in the highest degree, by a long siege it sustained against the Spaniards, which terminated in its overthrow and in the barbarous slaughter of its inhabitants. In some elegiac verses addressed to a friend at Delft the subject of our memoir thus celebrates, in a strain of dearly cherished remembrance, the place of his nativity, the home of his fathers: —

Ah fuit in Batavis urbecula finibus olim,

Quse nunc Hispani strata furore jacet.

Huic Undae Veteres posuerunt nomina prima;

Haee mihi nascenti patria terra fuit.

[In English: —

In Holland once (ah! once) there stood a town,

Now by the Spaniard's rage in ruins thrown;

Old Waters named — ne'er be that name forgot !

Scene of life's sunny morn — my natal spot! — TR.]

From this little city which, among other eminently learned men, gave birth also to the great mathematician, Rudolph Snellius, sprung Arminius, of parents respectable indeed, but of moderate means. His father was a cutler, of the name of Hermann Jacobs (or Jacobson). His mother's name was Angelica Jacobson: she belonged originally to Dort. He lost his father in infancy; and his mother, thus prematurely deprived of her partner, was left, with the three children she had by him, to pass her widowed days in somewhat straitened circumstances. There were not wanting, however, kind friends to the widow, who most faithfully acted towards her the part of a husband, and made it their study to assist her by their counsel and their means. Among others there lived at that time, and in the same place, a certain priest of the name of Theodore AEmilius, a man of singular erudition, who stood high among all his fellow-townsmen for the gravity of his manners, and the purity of his life. In his early years he had been imbued with the popular errors and with the superstitions of the Romish Church; but, afterwards, by divine illumination, he conceived a relish for the Reformed doctrine, and at last resolved to abandon at once and for ever the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass, which he had often performed.

Wherefore, to escape the hands of persecutors, he removed his abode from place to place; till at last, settling down privately at Utrecht, he took the fatherless boy Arminius under his truly fatherly protection. Finding him apt to learn, and already beaming, at that very tender age, with indications of mind, he took care to get him initiated, at the school of Utrecht, in the elements of both languages, and instilled into him the principles of genuine piety [Ex. Bertii Orat. funeb.]. When, moreover, he saw in the boy evident marks of an excellent and piously inclined disposition, he set himself with special earnestness to stimulate, day by day, his budding intellect and piety by the most salutary admonitions. Above all, he exhorted and urged him again and again, that, putting away and spurning from him every earthly consideration, he should devote himself entirely to God and his conscience; that the life which now is, was of trivial moment, and that it was succeeded by a state of existence beyond, which was not to be estimated by the distinctive badges of temporal bondage or freedom, but by an eternity of weal or of woe. These counsels, and many more of the same character, emanating as they did from a thoroughly sincere and unsophisticated breast, and followed up and confirmed by the diligent perusal and meditation of the sacred volume, remained infixed so deeply and indelibly in his mind, that, inflamed with the hope of that better life and never-ending glory which the venerable old man often pressed upon his attention, he consecrated himself entirely to the pursuit of piety, and the promotion of the divine glory. In the course of a few years, however, while living in this manner at Utrecht, and daily advancing in learning, and in holiness of life, his faithful patron was suddenly snatched from him by the hand of death.

But the great and ever blessed God, the never-failing father of the orphan, did not leave the youth, now in his 15th year, to pine in the hopeless grief into which he had been plunged by the loss of so beloved a benefactor. Scarcely had the good old man departed this life, when that profound linguist, and most expert mathematician, Rudolph Snellius, happened to re-visit his own country from Hesse-Cassel; having some time previously, to escape the tyranny of the Spaniards, left his native spot, which was common to him with Arminius, and repaired to Marburg. Moved with Christian compassion for his young fellow-townsman, now deprived of human guardianship, he forthwith honoured him with his patronage, and took him with him to Hesse-Cassel.

Arminius had hardly taken up his abode there, when, in the month of August in that same year (1575), his ear was startled by the truly tragic intelligence that his native town had been destroyed: — that the place had been taken by the Spaniards — its houses pillaged, and almost entirely consumed by the devouring flames — its garrison put to the sword — its ministers of religion hanged — and its inhabitants strangled in a promiscuous mass, without any regard to age or sex. This announcement so agonized his youthful spirit that for a whole fortnight he gave way to incessant weeping and wailing. Yea, so irrepressible was his anguish at so fell a catastrophe, that he quitted Hesse-Cassel, and hurried to Holland — resolved to visit the rums of his native city, or die in the attempt. When he reached the place, the scene presented the appearance of a heap, rather than of a town — his eye finding nothing to rest on but piles of rubbish, and the remains of most of the citizens, yea, and of his dearest mother, and sister, and brother, and other relations, all cruelly slain.

He accordingly returned to Marburg, the journey from his native place to Hesse-Cassel being accomplished on foot [Ex. Bertii Orat. Funeb.].

Meanwhile, under the auspices of the illustrious Prince of Orange, William the First, a new University had been erected in Holland [The celebrated University of Leyden. In memory of the eventful siege of that city by the Spaniards, and to reward the citizens for their heroic and triumphant defence, the Prince and States offered them their choice of a university or a fair. To the honour of the citizens they chose the university, and to the honour of the Prince and States they gave them both; and both sustained and enhanced the city's well-earned renown. The university, above all, has made Leyden an imperishable name. It received its charter from the Prince of Orange on the 8th February, 1575. 'Van der Duys, the devoted and heroic defender of his native town, first sat as curator in that chair which himself had raised on the standards of victory, and the muse twined her bays with the laurels that crowned his brow.' — Davies'

Hist. of Holland, vol. ii. p. 15. London, 1851 — TR.]. On being apprised of this, he returned to his native land, and repaired to Rotterdam, where the sad relics of his fellow- townsmen, and some others who had fled from Amsterdam on account of the Reformed religion, had taken shelter. Peter Bertius, senr., was then pastor of that church; and in the same city resided a man of eminent learning and piety, John Taffin, Walloon minister to the Prince, and one of his Councillors. Arminius immediately insinuated himself into their friendship —

so much so, that Bertius cheerfully received him into his own house. By and by, however, at the instance, and with the sanction, of certain friends, he was removed to the new University at Leyden, along with Peter Bertius, junr., whom his father, on this occasion, had recalled from England. Pre-eminent among the other masters of varied erudition, Lambert Danseus then added lustre to the new seat of learning — a distinguished man, so versed at once in philosophical and theological studies, and also in the Fathers, and in scholastic divinity, as to have scarcely an equal in these departments [Meursii Athen. Batavae.]. Hence that illustrious ornament of literature, and of the Leyden University, John Dousa, the elder, in an iambic poem composed in honour of Danaeus, designates him the father of the sciences and of eloquence, and the master-builder of the new seat of learning [Vid. Dousse poem, a Scriverio edita p. 274].

Favoured with so able a director of his studies, Arminius soon made such proficiency that he far outstripped his fellow-students, to whom he was held up by his distinguished preceptor in terms of public commendation as a rare example of industry and virtue. When anything was to be written, or spoken, or any doubt to be resolved, Arminius was snre to be consulted. There was scarcely a field of study, or department of the arts, which he did not bound over with eager and joyous impulse. In order to acquire the Hebrew tongue, he availed himself of the instructions of Hermann Rennecher, a Westphalian, who was well versed in that language. With his main study, theology, at which he toiled night and day, he conjoined philosophy; and penetrated to the inmost recesses of both.

Of all philosophers, by the way, the celebrated Peter Ramus, formerly professor in the University of Paris, pleased him best [Ramus was also a favourite with John Milton. — TR.]. So thoroughly did he imbibe his system of philosophising, and method of reasoning, that he might have passed for another Kamus. My impression, however, is, that Armmius acquired the elements of this philosophy under his teacher and guardian, Rudolph Snellius, of whom the distinguished Meursius remarks, that 'at Marburg he first laid his hands on the logic of Kamus, and was so enraptured with it, that from that day forward he shook himself clear of all the shackles of the Aristotelian philosophy, to the acquisition of which he had formerly devoted three whole years in the colleges at Cologne.'

Under the care of this same Snellius, who, at the close of the year 1578, was called by the Curators of the Leyden University to give instruction in Mathematics, he applied himself also to Mathematics and Astronomy, and made no small progress in these studies. Nor was he proof against the allurements of poetry; but at this, as well as at subsequent periods of his life, he occasionally betook himself to that sweet charmer of the human soul, to soothe his breast when burdened by a load of care. This is proved by a variety of epigrams and poems of every description, that bear the evident impress of a sprightly and most elegant mind, many of which, in the author's own hand-writing, are preserved by us to this day among our most precious relics. Of all his companions — it may be added — who then plied their literary studies along with him at the same university, and of whose friendship and close intimacy he daily availed himself, the most eminent were these young men of transcendent ability, John Gruter, Rombout Hoogerbeets, and George Benedicti of Haarlem, whose epigrams, and other highly finished poetical remains, were afterwards published by the very learned P. Scriverius.

When, with these fellow-students, he had now attended the Leyden University for the space of six years, and given satisfactory proof that he was destined to be an eminent man, and useful teacher in the church, he was at length recommended, in hope of the church, by the Honourable the Senators of the Amsterdam Republic, and by ministers of the gospel, to the heads of the merchants' guild [Tribunis Institorum; to which the author subjoins, in a foot-note, by way of explanation: — De Hooftluiden van het Kraemers Gildt. —

TR.], who responded so heartily to the call, that, to enable him to complete a thorough course of academical study, they took the youth under their patronage, and cheerfully engaged, with this pious object in view, to defray the expense thereby incurred out of the annual proceeds of their fraternity. On his part, Arminius, in an autograph document retained by the senators, of date 13th September, 1581, bound himself to be in perpetuity at the service of that city; and pledged his faith that in the event of his being invested with the sacred office, he would give his energies to no church in any other city without the previous consent of those who should constitute the Senate of that great city for the time being.

Backed by such kind patrons, he rushed with accelerated speed towards the completion of his studies. That he might accomplish this with the more advantage, and yet further enrich his resources, the Senate of Amsterdam deemed it advisable that he should be sent to some of the foreign universities.

Accordingly, by their authority and decree, in the year 1582, he set out for Geneva, a city which was then considered to be the stronghold of the Reformed faith, and the prolific birth-place as well as arena of the most illustrious minds. Of all who then took the lead in this city, in its Academy and in the public ordinances of religjon, the great masterspirit was that venerable old man, Theodore Beza. Hence nothing appeared to Arminius of greater consequence, while at Geneva, than to conciliate towards himself Beza's interest and affection, inasmuch as he hoped, by means of his conversations and intercourse, to become not only a more erudite and polished, but also a better and a wiser man. For, with the utmost gravity of manners, this theologian excelled his compeers in persuasiveness of address, and in promptitude and perspicuity of utterance; while his learning and attainments in sacred literature were profound and extraordinary. With ears intent Arminius drank in his words; with eager assiduity he hung upon his lips; and with intense admiration he listened to his exposition of the ninth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. His attention to Beza, however, was not exclusive; for he was often present also at the prelections and discourses of Anthony Faye, Charles Perrot, and other teachers of that church and university.

Here, at Geneva, were laid the foundations of that most intimate and uninterrupted friendship which ever after subsisted between him and John Uitenbogaert, a native of Utrecht, who prosecuted his studies in theology at the same time, and under the same preceptors [Ex vitas Uitenbog.

prolegomenis, ling, vernac. conscript.]. In the course of that period, too, it happened that the sons of the principal families of rank in the Dutch Eepublic, and young men of noble birth, had flocked to Geneva to prosecute their studies, of whose familiar intercourse and many kind offices Arminius daily availed himself. Eminent among these were Nicolas Cromhout, Abraham Bysius, Peter Brederode, John Crucius, Adrian Tiong of Dort, afterwards called Juuius, and others, whom, at subsequent periods, he saw elevated to the highest honours of state in his native land [Ex Arminii MS. Libello.].

But Arminius, having rather keenly, and with too great ardour, defended publicly, as well as privately, the philosophy of Ramus, which he had formerly embraced, and impugned that of Aristotle; nay, further, having allowed himself to be prevailed upon, by the request and earnest entreaties of many of the students (of whom Uitenbogaert was one), to teach the logic of Ramus privately, and in his own study, he soon succceded, by that step, in arraying against himself the fierce jealousy of some of the rectors of the academy at Geneva. Of these, no one resented the attempt so keenly as the professor of philosophy in that academy — a Spaniard by nation, and, moreover, a most strenuous defender of Aristotle. By his influence, erelong, Arminius was publicly, and by name, interdicted the liberty of teaching the Ramean philosophy. Disconcerted by this affair, he resolved to yield somewhat to the exigency, and abandon Geneva for a time [Bert. Orat. Funeb.— Uitenb. Hist.

Eccles. Vernacule Script.].

He removed to Basle, where he was held in the highest estimation for his talents and learning. A favourable opportunity here presented itself for establishing his reputation. The custom had prevailed in that university of permitting the more advanced theological students, during the harvest holidays, to give, apart from the stated course, and with the view of exercising their, gifts, occasional lectures in public. This province Arminius very willingly undertook, and expounded a few chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

With such ability did he act his part, and with such applause from all the learned, that the celebrated James Grynajus, professor of sacred literature in that university, occasionally graced his lecture with his presence, and listened to him with the utmost delight. This distinguished man, moreover, when any grave question was started in their public discussions, or any knotty point presented itself, would single out Arminius from among the assembled students, and, without any fear that his honour was at stake, appeal to him in these words — 'Let my Hollander answer for me.' [Ex. Bert. Orat. Funeb.].

Yea, to such an extent, at this place, did he gain the esteem of the learned, and the fame of solid acquirements, that, when he was meditating a return to Geneva, the Theological Faculty spontaneously, and at the public expense, proffered him the title of doctor, which, however, with the utmost modesty, and with every expression of gratitude, Arminius at that time declined, as an honour which he was yet too young to wear.

On his return to Geneva in 1583, he found that the most of those whom he had shortly before exasperated by his defence of the philosophical tenets of Ramus, had abated much of their rigour. Wherefore, deeming it fair that he, on his part, should somewhat abate his impetuosity, and give no further offence to his friends in this way, he so conducted himself henceforth that every one saw and admired the combination he exhibited of an acute and vivacious intellect with the utmost moderation of spirit. So marked was this, that Beza himself, on being asked by the learned Martin Lydius, minister of the gospel at Amsterdam, in name of the leading men both of the city and the church, to give his opinion of their scholar [Alumnus, or in Dutch Voedsterling

— literally foster-child.], and of his studies, replied, in a letter to Lydius, dated June 3, 1583, and embodying the mind of the entire theological faculty, in the following terms: — 'Your letter reached us sometime since, in which, in terms of the decision of your assembly, as well as by the desire of your illustrious magistracy, you ask our opinion of James Arminius, your scholar. To that letter we shortly after replied; but as it is possible, in these critical times, that our reply may not have reached you, we deem it expedient to embrace the opportunity that has just presented itself of a confidential bearer, to repeat our answer in brief, lest by any such contingency the studies of Arminius should be injuriously affected. To sum up all, then, in a few words, be it known to you, that from the time Arminius returned to us from Basle, his life and learning both have so approved themselves to us, that we hope the best of him in every respect, if he steadily persist in the same course, which, by the blessing of God, we doubt not he will; for, among other endowments, God has gifted him with an apt intellect both as respects the apprehension and the discrimination of things. If this henceforward be regulated by piety, which he appears assiduously to cultivate, it cannot but happen that this power of intellect, when consolidated by mature age and experience, will be productive of the richest fruits. Such is our opinion of Arminius, a young man, unquestionably, so far as we are able to judge, most worthy of your kindness and liberality.' [Vide Epist. Eccles. Amstel. 1684 editas; pag. 26. Ed. xii.]

Three months after, a similar opinion respecting Arminius was expressed by the University of Basle, in whose name the celebrated Grynaeus drew out the following testimonial:—

'To pious readers, greeting:

Inasmuch as a faithful testimonial of learning and piety ought not to be refused to any learned and pious man, so neither to James Arminius, a native of Amsterdam [In this Grynaeus was mistaken, for Arminius was a native of Oudewater.], for his deportment while he attended the University of Basle was marked by piety, moderation, and assiduity in study; and very often, in the course of our theological discussions, he made his gift of a discerning spirit so manifest to all of us, as to elicit from us well-merited congratulations. More recently, too, in certain extraordinary prelections delivered with the consent, and by the order, of the Theological Faculty, in which he publicly expounded a few chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, he gave us the best ground to hope that he was destined erelong — if, indeed, he goes on to stir up the gift of God that is in him — to undertake and sustain the function of teaching, to which he he may be lawfully set apart, with much fruit to the Church. I commend him, accordingly, to all good men, and, in particular, to the Church of God in the famous city of Amsterdam; and I respectfully entreat that regard may be had to that learned and pious youth, so that he may never be under the necessity of intermitting theological studies which have been thus far so happily prosecuted. Farewell!'

'JOHN JAMES GRYNAEUS,'

'Professor of Sacred Literature, and Dean of the Theological Faculty. —

Written with mine own hand. [Ex ipso Grynaei Autographo.]'

'Basle, 3rd September, 1583.'

Graced and animated by these testimonials, he diligently applied himself at Geneva, for three years more, to augment his attainments in theology and sacred literature. Moreover, as every nation has something in which it boasts a superiority over others, and as James Zabarella, a professor of philosophy at Padua, had at this time acquired great celebrity in that department; for this reason chiefly, Arminius, in the year 1586, made arrangements for taking a journey to Italy. This, however, he undertook not so much at his own suggestion, as at the instance of that noble youth, Adrian Junius, who was prosecuting legal studies, and who, when at a subsequent period he took his place among the senators of the Provincial Court, ceased not to regard Arminius with peculiar affection and esteem. Bent on making the tour of Italy, and on the look-out for a fit companion, he succeeded at last, by dint of entreaties, and by consummate address, in alluring Arminius into the project, on this condition, that both should use the same lodgings, the same table, and the same bed; and that in no case, when they sallied forth, should either quit the side of the other [Vid. Bert. Orat. Funeb.— Uitenb. Hist. Eccles.]. On this agreement, entered into at Geneva, they set out on their journey under favourable circumstances, taking along with them a Hebrew psalter, and a Greek copy of the New Testament, for the use of both in the way of cultivating personal piety. Spending sometime in Padua, Arminius listened to Zabarella with the utmost delight, and also found occasion to give instruction in logic to some Germans there, of noble birth. From that he visited the principal cities of Italy, and the queen of them all, the city of Rome — the throne of the Papal superstition and despotism. Wherever they went Arminius clung to his Achates, and never spoke to any one except in his presence. Of this journey, indeed, he was wont to remark, as no trivial advantage, that 'at Rome he had seen the mystery of iniquity in a form far more hideous than he had ever imagined; and that all he had ever heard or read elsewhere of the court of Antichrist at Rome, appeared trifles when compared with what he saw with his own eyes.' [Ex. Bertii Orat. Fimeb.]. The whole of this journey to Italy was accomplished, not in twenty-one months, as some recklessly allege, but in the space only of seven months; after which he retraced his steps to Geneva. But although he had been an eye-witness of the meretricious worship of that Papal Church, he had kept himself perfectly clear of all taint of its superstition

; still he could not escape the charge, by very grave men, of incaution and precipitation, in undertaking such a journey. What was more, he drew down upon himself, in consequence of that step, the displeasure, to some extent, of his patrons, and of the honourable Senate of Amsterdam, on the ground that he had undertaken the journey without consulting them. And, as envy is the usual concomitant of shining virtues and talents, there were not wanting individuals at this time who made a handle of the circumstance to indulge the vilest suspicions, and byjudgments the most manifestly reckless, to blight the opening buds of the youth's reputation. For advantage was taken of the fact, first secretly to insinuate, and then openly to proclaim far and wide, that he had kissed the Pope's shoe, became acquainted with the Jesuits, and cherished a familiar intimacy with Cardinal Bellarmine; the simple truth being that he had never beheld the Pope save in a dense crowd, in common with the other spectators, while Bellarmine he had never so much as seen.

Accordingly, having returned to Geneva, and passed a few months more in that place, he was recalled home by his patrons, and, in the autumn of 1587, set out for Amsterdam, adorned with a very splendid testimonial from his preceptors at Geneva, in which they declare, 'that his mind was in the highest degree qualified for the discharge of duty, should it please God at any time to use his ministry for the promotion of his own work in the Church.' [These are the words of Beza. Vid. Bert. Orat. Funeb.— TR.] Directly on entering that city, he felt it incumbent on him, first of all, to clear himself of the aspersions of weaker brethren, in reference to the journey above-mentioned, to the satisfaction of those grave and influential men whose authority was predominant in Church and State. Having obtained an interview with these, he very easily explained the fact; while the superadded testimony of Adrian Junius, formerly noticed, who had been his constant and inseparable companion in that journey, put an effectual curb on the reckless jaws of his calumniators. Nor less did Arminius feel it to be his incumbent duty, now that he had returned to Amsterdam, to make his appearance before the ecclesiastical court [This, we presume, was the Amsterdam Classis, for it was by the classical courts that candidates for the ministry were wont to be examined. These classes, being originally composed of every minister and elder within the particular bounds, corresponded, as nearly as possible, to our Scottish presbyteries. See Steven's Brief View of the Dutch Eccl. Estab., p. 9.

It is evidently this same classical court, or presbytery, that is so often referred to in the subsequent pages, and which Brandt variously designates by the names Senutus Ecclesiasticus, Presbyterium, Synedrium, &c.— TR.], which he did on the 12th of November. He was very graciously received, and forthwith presented his testimonials from the venerable Beza and others; adding, that, actuated by an ardent desire to edify the Church of God, he would gladly devote to this object the gifts divinely entrusted to him, if at any time he should be duly invested with the sacred office [Ex actis presbyterii Amstelod.]. After entering into explanations respecting his journey to Italy, he next made the request, that before applying himself to discourses [Commonly called Propositions], with the view of rightly moulding his voice and style of speaking (of which he was extremely diffident), he might be allowed with the consent of the honourable Senate, to go to South Holland, partly to see certain friends and relatives, and partly to transact some private business. He obtained permission, the senators even granting him his travelling expenses; and accomplished the projected journey in a brief period of time.

On his return, he devoted a few weeks, by way of practice, to the delivery of private addresses; and, about the commencement of the year following (1588), he presented himself for examination before the Classis of Amsterdam. This having taken place, and his faith having been tested on the several heads of Christian doctrine, and the testimonies of some eminent divines respecting him having further been read, he was unanimously judged worthy to undertake ministerial functions. Thereafter, on the 4th February, with the consent of the honourable senators (the matter having previously been submitted to the ecclesiastical court), he began to be heard from thejoulpit of the church in Amsterdam, and officiated every week at the evening service, delivering a discourse, and conducting the prayers [Ex actis presbyt. Amstelod.]. He did so with such applause — his style of speaking being marked by a certain sweet and native grace, tempered with gravity —

that, in the course of a few months (on the 21st July), the consistory [The consistory (for such, in this instance, must be the court designated by the name preslyterium) corresponds to our Kirk-session. It is 'composed of the minister or ministers, in actual service, and the ciders and deacons of each congregation. In small communities, deacons have a voice in all the business of the kirk-session, but in large consistories they have a separate chamber where are discussed all matters relating to the poor. In towns the whole session, including ministers, elders, and deacons, combine in calling a clergyman.' Steven's Brief View of Dutch Eccl Estal., p. 3.— TR.] of that city

— all the deacons being assembled along with them — resolved, by their common vote, and without a dissentient voice, that he should be offered the sacred ministry of the church in Amsterdam, and that the consent of the honourable senators should be asked for that purpose. This was obtained, on the 28th of July; and the invitation by the entire consistory of the church, having been tendered to Arminius on the llth of August, after due proclamation had been made, and after pledging his faith that he would, according to the example of his colleagues, fulfil his sacred duties with fidelity and zeal, on a certain Saturday, which happened to be the day before the celebration of the Lord's Supper, he was, in solemn form, by the laying on of hands, invested with the sjacred office.

He entered upon his public duties in the twenty-eighth year of his age; and already, at this youthful period, acted the part of a consummate preacher, and not only fulfilled, but far exceeded the expectations of his patrons. His discourses were masculine and erudite; everything he uttered breathed the theologian — not raw and commonplace, but superior, acute, cultivated, and replete with solid acquisitions both in human and in sacred literature. This made him such a favourite both with high and low, that in a short time he attracted towards himself the ears and the hearts of all classes alike. In the general admiration of his talents, some styled him 'a file of truth,' others 'a whet-stone of intellect,' others 'a pruning-knife for rank-growing errors;' and, indeed, on the subject of religion, and sacred study, it seemed as if scarcely anything was known which Arminrus did not know [Ex Eertii Orat. Funeb.].

In order to circumscribe himself in his public discourses within certain limits, he adopted the plan of expounding continuously, and in alternate order, the prophetic book of Malachi and the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. He commenced the exposition of this Epistle on Lord's day the 6th of November.

In treating the argument it contains, he reckoned nothing more important than to bring clearly out the primary scope of the Apostle, namely, to establish the doctrine of the justification of both Jew and Gentile by the faith of the gospel; and to exhibit to the church, plainly and distinctly, the necessity of faith and of gospel grace, as well as the inefficacy of legal works [Ex Annotatis MSS. J.

Armin.]. To this task he addressed himself with all his might, by which he increased to the utmost his reputation for consummate learning, and gained the favour and good will of all who attended his lectures — not excepting even those who differed from him in sentiment. But having, first of all, sworn eternal fealty to truth, and all along cherished an ardent love to it, he set before him as his chief aim, now that he was just commencing his ministry, to lay aside all prejudice, surrender himself entirely to truth, and in no case speak or act contrary to the dictates of a pure conscience. Great, moreover, as was the veneration with which he regarded those under whose banner and protection he had devoted himself to sacred study, he would by no means consent to take their opinions for law, but was determined to follow the direction of Christ alone, the supreme teacher and guide. This, as early as the year following (1589), events began to make manifest.

CHAPTER II.

TRANSITION-STAGE OF ARMINIUS' MIND ON THE SUBJECT OF

PREDESTINATION, WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH IT

ORIGINATED, AND THE TROUBLES TO WHICH IT LED. -A.D. 1589-1592.

FAMOUS at that time was the name of Richard Coornhert, a citizen of Amsterdam, whom Adrian Junius of Hoorn, in his description of Holland, designates 'a man of divine intellect.' This individual, notwithstanding that he had strenuously contended for liberty of country and of conscience, and bravely withstood the tyranny of the Romish Church, was yet of opinion that the church which gloried in the name Reformed, was not so purged but that it still laboured under a variety of errors, opposed at once to Christian truth and piety. Of these, the one he could least tolerate was the dogma, taught by most ministers of this church, of an absolute decree of divine election and reprobation, as had been maintained at large by the very celebrated divines of the Geneva school. This opinion he began to assail both with tongue and pen; and soon furnished the pastors in the Low Countries that held it with a superabundance of work. Nay, ten years had now elapsed since a very smart disputation on this and other points, presided over by certain members of the honourable the States General, had taken place between him and Arnold Cornelis and Reyner Donteklok, ministers at Delft [Vid. Parentis mei f. m. Ger.

Brantii Hist. Reformationis Belgicae, populari Idiom. Scriptam. tom. i. p. 597.].

He was, in consequence, taxed and held chargeable with heresy, libertinism, and many more such crimes; and stood as a common mark of assault to all who wished to preserve inviolate the name and reputation of the Reformed Church. The Ecclesiastical Court of Amsterdam accordingly, unwilling in this matter to fall behind others in zeal, resolved that their own Arminius be earnestly requested to undertake the task of resisting that man's attempts, and devote his energies to the confutation of his treatises [Ex actis Presbyt.

Amstel.]. This request Arminius at that time failed to fulfil, not so much from a reluctant mind, as from the following incident that occurred in the same conjuncture of affairs.

These two ministers of Delft, who had publicly disputed with Coornhert, the better to shield their opinion of an absolute decree against the main objection of their antagonist, with which he was always plying them — (namely, that the necessity of sinning, no less than of perishing, being fixed by the more than iron absolutism of that decree, they thereby actually made the ever-blessed God the author of all sin)— came to the conclusion that they must of necessity deviate a little from the footsteps of the Genevan divines, and adopt some other expedient to rid themselves of the difficulty. For while they agreed with the Genevans in this, that Divine Predestination was the antecedent, absolute, and inevitable decree of God concerning the salvation or damnation of every individual of the human race, without any respect to obedience or disobedience, they nevertheless dissented from them in the following particular: — While the illustrious Beza and others had made the object in the view of God predestinating to be man not yet considered as fallen, yea, not even as created, these Delft divines, on the other hand, made this peremptory decree, in the order of nature, to be posterior to the creation and the fall of man. In order to submit this opinion to the judgment of the most learned, these brethren of Delft had drawn up a little work under the title of 'An Answer to certain Arguments of Beza and Calvin, from a Treatise on Predestination as taught in the Ninth Chapter of Romans.' [Ex Bert. Orat. Funeb. Vide etiam libellum B. Donteklokii vernacule Script. anno 1609.]. This work, presenting a variety of difficulties under which the more rigid opinion of the Genevans seemed to labour, had been transmitted by them to the Reverend Martin Lydius, who, from the celebrity he had acquired for solid erudition, had been called, in the year 1585, by the honourable rulers of Friesland to the professorship of divinity in their new academy. But he, though by no means indisposed to reply to the authors of that book — (he had even pledged his faith that he would) — nevertheless preferred turning to Arminius, whom he urged by letter to undertake this task, and the defence of Beza, and thus pave the way to the refutation of Coornhert.

To this proposal Arminius, in the first instance, did not greatly object, yea, and addressed himself to the task with the more alacrity that he cherished such veneration for his reverend and aged preceptor, of whose lectures and arguments, to which he had recently listened, he retained a deep and lively recollection. But when he entered on this field, and, with the view of defending his own opinion, had accurately balanced the arguments on both sides, and brought them to the test of the ancient truth, he found in either view of an absolute decree of predestination such inextricable difficulties, that what to choose and what to refuse came to be matter of perplexing doubt. Indeed, the longer he revolved the point, and weighed the reasons which had been urged against the view of Calvin and Beza, the more difficult did he find it to meet them with a solid reply; and thus he felt himself bearing rapidly over to that very opinion which, at first sight, he had undertaken to impugn. Wherefore, accustomed as he was to surrender himself to the dictates of a good conscience, that he might not overstep his duty as a lawful student of divine truth, or rashly precipitate himself against this or that opinion on the point referred to, he determined, first of all, abruptly to cut short the thread of the refutation he had begun, and devote every fragment of time he could redeem from his stated engagements and public ministrations to the more thorough investigation of this doctrine, and to the perusal, in connexion with the sacred volume, of the works written on the subject by the ancient as well as more recent divines.

But to proceed with our narrative: That he might feel the more encouraged to prosecute with alacrity and respectability his earthly career, and the public duties assigned him, he took thought, in the thirtieth year of his age, of entering into the marriage relation; and on the 16th of September 1590, he took to wife Elizabeth Real, the nuptials being celebrated in due form in the Old Church (as it was commonly called), and the ceremony performed by his colleague, the Rev. John Ambrosius. This Elizabeth was a woman of elegant manners, and of a great mind — being the daughter of a man of the utmost weight and tried excellence, Lawrence Real, a judge and senator in Amsterdam. How well this man deserved of his native city, and of the Reformed religion, and how prodigious the toils he encountered in its defence during the very perilous period of Spanish tyranny, eminent writers of that age abundantly testify. Having happily secured as his partner in life the daughter of such a man, endowed and adorned with hereditary virtues, most exemplary manners, and the love of unaffected piety from her earliest years — for she had herself accompanied her father into exile for the sake of religion —

Arminius forthwith applied himself, heart and soul, to discharge with alacrity the duties of his sphere.

But although he put himself most wisely and rigidly on his guard against openly impugning the generally received tenets concerning Divine Predestination, and kept to himself, for the sake of peace, many truths on which the rest differed from him in opinion, he by no means held himself so bound to the prevailing opinions of others as to preclude him, when engaged in the exposition of this or that passage, from occasionally and modestly expressing his dissent. Above all, he made it his endeavour to eradicate from the minds of his hearers certain popular errors in the highest degree hostile to Christian piety; and to vindicate, against the vicious and distorted interpretations of some, several passages of Holy Writ on which, not unfrequently, as on an axiomatic basis, were reared carnal views at variance with genuine Christianity. For this purpose a fit opportunity, as it appeared to him, presented itself in the year 1591, when, after having been sometime engaged in the public exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, he reached the 14th verse of the seventh chapter — 'For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.' His opinion was, that to interpret this passage as many do, of the man as truly and thoroughly born again, through gospel grace, was to do the utmost to invalidate the efficacy of Christian regeneration, and the cultivation of genuine piety; inasmuch as the entire exercise of divine worship, all evangelical obedience, and that new creation which the inspired writers so often and so earnestly inculcate, were thereby shrunk within such narrow limits as to consist not in the effect, but simply in the wish. Wherefore, after accurately weighing in his own mind the train of thought in that chapter, and calling to his aid the commentaries of Bucer and others upon it, he publicly taught and maintained — 'that St Paul in this place does not speak of himself as what he then was, nor yet of a man living under the influence of gospel grace, but personates a man lying under the law, on whom the Mosaic law had performed its functions; and who, in consequence, being by the aid of the Spirit contrite on account of sin, and convinced of the impotence of the law as a means of obtaining salvation, was in quest of a deliverer, and was, not regenerated indeed, but in the stage next to regeneration.'

This exposition of the passage — which was simply submitted, without discussing the contrary opinion — procured him much ill will, and but little favour with the most of his ministerial brethren. Some took occasion from it to fasten on him the crime of Pelagianism, on the ground that he ascribed too much goodness to an unregenerate man. Others daubed his opinion with the mark of heresy, for no other reason than that Faustus Socinus, under the name of Prosper Dysidseus, had expounded this chapter of Paul in much the same way. With most the cry was, that he had uttered many things from the pulpit opposed to the Confession of the Belgic churches and the Palatine Catechism; and, further, that he had appealed without just warrant, in defence of his opinion, to the divines of the ancient Church, and even to some of a more recent age.

Shortly after, the matter was brought before the Classical Court, who decreed to summon Arminius to their bar, and hold an interview with him, with the view of convincing him of his error, and of his perverse doctrine, or of making him give a more satisfactory explanation of his opinion. On being apprised of this decision, Arminius signified that he would enter most cheerfully into such a conference, but on this condition, that it take place in the presence of the rulers of the city, or their delegates; or, if tin's should not be deemed advisable, that he be allowed to meet only with his brethren in the ministry, the elders of the church being absent. The latter alternative being adopted, after previous prayer to God, a discussion was held between him and Peter Plancius. Plancius urged many things against Arminius, which Arminius proved either that he had never uttered from the pulpit, or that he had done so with a clearly different aim, and in a different sense [Ex schedulia MS.

Arminii.]. To the charge of Pelagianism, he replied, with some warmth, that he utterly repudiated those errors which were commonly ascribed to Pelagians; and contended that by no legitimate process could they be elicited from his exposition in question, but, on the contrary, were manifestly repugnant to it.

With respect to the authorities he had cited in the pulpit, he owned he had said that very many of the ancient divines, both of the Greek and Latin Church, had adopted his exposition, which he could establish by proofs not a few; as for the rest, he was not aware that he had adduced in support of his opinion any of the recent divines of the Church except Bucer, although he did not use the same phraseology; but that Desiderius Erasmus was inclined to the same opinion — a name by no means to be despised by any of the Reformed. Here Plancius began to detract greatly from the authority, and to weaken the credit, of the ancient fathers of the Church. This Arminius resented, and declared that neither Plancius himself, nor any divine of the modern Church, had a right to think or speak so disparagingly of men whose names were held sacred, and who so acted in their day as to entitle themselves to be held in honour by the entire Christian community. The Confession and Catechism being next referred to, he showed at much length that he had taught nothing whatever contrary to these formularies of mutual consent, and that his doctrine on the point in question could be most easily reconciled with them. He added that he was in no respect bound to every private interpretation of the Reformed, but was plainly free and entitled to expound the heavenly oracles, and particular passages of the sacred volume, according to the dictates of conscience; and that in so doing, he would ever be on his guard against advancing aught which went to tear up the foundation of the Christian faith. In the course of the discussion, the subject of predestination was mentioned once and again; but he refused to touch on that doctrine, on the ground that in his exposition of this seventh chapter he had advanced nothing whatever which had the remotest bearing on that controversy. Being further asked what opinion be held as to the perfection of man in this life, he replied that he considered a question of this description as altogether superfluous, having brought out his mind on this point more than a hundred times in the course of expounding the sixth and seventh chapters of that apostolic epistle. Other and more copious replies of Arminius to many allegations of this kind, will be found in his very accurate 'Dissertation on the True and Genuine Sense of the Seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans,' which, in consequence of these commotions, he afterwards wrote during his leisure hours,- and brought to a close about the commencement of the year 1600 [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Uitenb. 26th Jan., 1600.].

Notwithstanding these ways in which he strove to clear himself of the crimes laid to his charge, individuals were to be found who gave him daily trouble —

the leader of this clamouring choir being Peter Plancius. Indeed, so hot grew the strife at the beginning of the following year, that the very learned M.

Lydius already mentioned, on being informed of the ecclesiastical controversies which had sprung up at Amsterdam, set out for the Hague, and entreated the help of Uitenbogaert to lull them to rest. He plied him with persuasive words, and instigated by the ardent love he bore to that flourishing church, the care of which had been committed to him some years before, he implored this minister of the Hague that, with the view of getting the matter settled, he would write to Arminius (whom, he owned, the classis had handled rather sharply) — or, better still, set out for Amsterdam, and try to persuade him, for the sake of preserving peace, to meet the views of his brethren and co-presbyters as far as in him lay, and the inviolability of a good conscience would permit [Vid. Hist. Uitenbog. Ecclesiast.]. Nor did Lydius doubt but that Arminius would willingly comply with the advice of Uitenbogaert, partly from the great influence this man wielded in almost all the churches, and partly from the intimacy with him which Arminius had long since contracted and cherished.

Swayed by these entreaties, Uitenbogaert repaired to Amsterdam, and deemed it of the utmost importance to call upon the Rev. John Taffin, minister of the Walloon Church. This was the first call he made. He explained to him the object of his journey; and having elicited from him the state of the entire controversy, he strenuously besought him that he would not refuse to lend his endeavours towards healing this dissension. To this request Taffin readily yielded, and undertook, with the utmost cordiality, the same province with Uitenbogaert; for he was a man most desirous — if ever man was — of Christian piety and peace. These two men, accordingly, after having consulted together, and combining their strength, waited, in the first instance, upon the classis, and then upon Arminius, and proffered to both their very best services, with the view of restoring a good understanding. This offer both parties accepted with thanks; and signified that nothing would gratify them more than that the means should be considered which might be most likely to reach that desirable end. A conference was forthwith appointed to be held in the house of Taffin, and the charge of acting in the affair, and pleading their cause, was delegated by the classis to certain of their own number. On that occasion, both the accusing and the accused party, after each had been heard, returned home without settling the affair. But Taffin and Uitenbogaert, judging it right not to rest in these preliminary steps, shortly after presented to the Church Court at an extraordinary meeting, a certain formula, on the basis of which harmony might be restored. It was couched in the following terms [Ex aetis Presbyt. Amst. citatis a Triglandio in Hist. Eccles. p. 281.]: — 'James Arminius declares that — although he is not conscious that he holds, or has taught, anything different from what is set forth in the Confession and Catechism, or has given just cause to any for entertaining such a suspicion concerning him — nevertheless, for the sake of testifying his desire for the peace of the Church, and to disabuse the minds of some of all sinister opinions, he is willing cordially to pledge his faith, by signing this document, that henceforth he will not only deliver to the Church nothing different from, but will also deliver to the Church the very thing contained in, the writings of the apostles and prophets, as these are explained in the Catechism and Confession, and everywhere taught in the Reformed Churches. Further, that he will so conduct his discourses and exhortations (as he at the same time believes he has hitherto done) that no just ground shall ever be furnished to any for suspecting that he holds anything different concerning doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline, from what is comprehended in the Confession and Catechism, and in the articles of the last General Synod. If, moreover, any difficulty should arise in his mind concerning any articles of doctrine, he engages that he will take care not to make the same public, either from the pulpit, or anywhere else. Further, that, instead of this, it shall be open for him, in such a case, to confer with his brethren in the ministry. But should he feel that their arguments are not at all satisfactory to him, and that the difficulties in question still burden his mind, in these circumstances he engages voluntarily to impose silence upon himself until a General Council of the churches shall be called, by whose advice and judgment he will cheerfully abide. On the other hand, and finally, in order that mutual peace and harmony among the ministers of religion may be preserved the more inviolate, the colleagues of Arminius promise and engage (although, so far as concerns themselves, they deem this superfluous — never having given any one even the smallest occasion to question their fidelity and duty) that they will take care, not only in their public discourses, but also in their private conversations, never to furnish any with just grounds for suspecting that they are not at peace amongst themselves; on this condition, however, that they shall not be held to have violated their engagement when, in defence of the true faith, they refute the arguments of adversaries, according to the formula of the Reformed doctrine received in the Low Countries. Which stipulation being made and heard, the Ecclesiastical Court, for important reasons, and chiefly with the view of promoting the peace of the Church, has judged it proper to suspend their own judgment upon the protestation of Arminius made in the commencement of this document, and forthwith consign to silence this whole affair; earnestly praying the ever-blessed God to conduct this attempt to a happy and prosperous result, for the glory of his name, and the edification of the Church.'

[Ex schedulis MS. J Armin. vernacule script.].

This scheme for restoring harmony 'having been drawn up and handed in, no doubt remained among reasonable men but that, on these terms and engagements, both parties would at once agree to it.' But their hope proved fallacious. Arminius, indeed, cordially accepted these terms; but the classis, by a large majority, rejected them. Nay more, Taffin and Uitenbogaert, after all the pains they had taken to promote the peace of the Church, received such slender thanks at the hand of some, that very injurious reports concerning them were circulated through the whole city, to the effect that they were abettors of erroneous opinions [Uitenb. Hist. Eccles.]. Wherefore, although they saw that their labour had been lost, and that no hope of restoring peace smiled upon them, so far as those ecclesiastics were concerned, still they felt it to be due to their own reputation to call the Church Court once more together. This being done, they vindicated their own innocence on a variety of grounds, and referred, with, great boldness, to the injury done them by those who had so foully misrepresented this their mediation. They further begged and demanded of the assembled brethren, that they would take in good part the object at which, in true candour of spirit, they had aimed; adding, that their determination was to take no further steps in the matter, but commit it to Divine Providence.

Before, however, we narrate the progress and issue of this affair, we must not omit to mention that this same Uitenbogaert, whose earnest endeavour to promote the peace of the church in Amsterdam has just been noticed, was found fault with at the very time, by some of the pastors of that church, even for the close intimacy which he cultivated with Arminius; and that this circumstance probably had to do with the reasons why his counsel was not listened to. This is corroborated by the following account, drawn up by the hand of Arminius himself, now in glory, which, as it has not been mentioned by any writer, so far as I know, I reckon not unworthy of being introduced in this connexion.

A few days, then, previous to the arrival of Uitenbogaert, on the occasion of having decided to give a call to Jeremias Basting, the honourable senators had signified, in no ambiguous terms, that nothing would be more agreeable to their wish than that a grave deliberation should be entered into by the Classical Court, as to the propriety of calling, in addition to Basting, that very eloquent minister of the Church in the Hague, of whom they affirmed that they had some reason to believe he would accede to the call. The court accordingly met to consider this matter on the 14th of January; and on each being asked to give his conscientious opinion on this proposal of the honourable senators, up rose Plancius first of all, and declared 'That he had heard some things concerning Uitenbogaert which furnished ground to suspect that on certain doctrines of the Christian faith he was not decided, particularly on the doctrine of original sin, which he was reported to have said, received no countenance from the passage in the fifth chapter of Romans, and the others commonly cited. Farther, that Uitenbogaert had sometimes, in his presence, mooted certain doubts respecting several questions in the Catechism; that on one occasion he had declared of a certain Arian book, that it was unanswerable; and that he wished he could see the book of Coornhert satisfactorily refuted. That in addition to all this, it was rumoured that he held the same view with Arminius on the seventh chapter of the Romans; and, consequently, that to call that man, particularly at that tune, would not tend much to the good of the church.' [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii.].

To these and similar aspersions thus openly promulgated, and seriously implicating the character of an absent friend, whom he loved as a brother, Arminius fearlessly opposed himself; and showed that the charges above specified rested upon mere suspicions, and would at once vanish into smoke as soon as Uitenbogaert was present to speak for himself. Arminius, accordingly, and a few others, gave it as their opinion that the proposal of the senators should be agreed to, and that Uitenbogaert himself be directly treated with in the matter. But their counsel was rejected, it being carried by a majority of votes to request the senators, through delegates to be appointed at that meeting, to allow them to carry into effect the proposed call to Basting; and to intimate to them at the same time, that the classis had reasons satisfactory to itself for judging that the idea of calling that minister of the Hague was one which ought to be abandoned. These delegates, moreover —

consisting of two of the elders, Thomas Kronenburg, and John de Vry, men of the highest respectability, and of senatorial dignity — were empowered to disclose the considerations mentioned above, should the senators press it.

As soon as Uitenbogaert received some inkling of the affair, though he had come to Amsterdam specially for the sake of Arminius, and of the church in that city, he was nevertheless unwilling to let the occasion slip without taking measures to vindicate his own character. Wherefore, falling upon Peter Plancius, the fabricator of those wicked suspicions which some had conceived against him, he entered into a serious expostulation with him in respect to every particular, and reduced him to such straits that he pleaded guilty of imprudence, and pledged his faith that he would inform the Church Court of all that had passed between him and Uitenbogaert. This promise he implemented on the 23rd of the same month, in the presence of the whole classis; on which, that body commissioned the same delegates who had previously met with the senators, to intimate, in name of their entire meeting, to the honourable magistrates of the city, that all those doubts which some had started respecting Uitenbogaert had vanished, after he and Plancius had been brought face to face.

Having briefly and cursorily disposed of this circumstance respecting Uitenbogaert, it now remains that we proceed to trace the progress and issue of this affair for the settlement of which he had undertaken a winter's journey

— as yet without any satisfactory result. In this conjuncture, then, of ecclesiastical affairs, it pleased the supreme rulers of the city to call Uitenbogaert — who was already on the eve of returning home — and the Rev. John Taffin into the council-hall, and make inquiry into the state of the whole matter, and the steps thus far they had taken in regard to it. This mandate these two ministers most promptly obeyed; and after explaining everything which seemed to bear on the case, with a courteous farewell, and an exchange of grateful acknowledgments, they took their leave.

Shortly after, when the annual change of magistrates had taken place, and Uitenbogaert set out for the Hague, the new senators, Reiner Cant, William Bardes, Corn. Flor. van Teilingen, and Nic. F. Oetgenius a Waveren, cited before them all the ministers of religion, in a body, on the 11th of February, at three o'clock in the afternoon; and that the matter might be transacted with the greater authority and effect, they asked the presence also of these very influential persons, P. Bomius, Corn. P. Hoofdius, and Barthold Cromhout, who had just retired from the office of chief magistrates of the city [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii.]. The ministers having arrived at the time appointed, the. senators intimated to them, through Cant, who was in the chair, 'that they had perceived with pain from their public ministrations, and that for a considerable time back, as well as from the complaints of several citizens, that they were not at peace among themselves. Dissensions of that kind must be checked in the bud, lest they should issue in results disastrous to the Church, and even to the Republic itself. Tho honourable senators, therefore, in consideration of the office with which they were entrusted, wished and enjoined that the ministers would diligently apply themselves henceforth to the cultivation of peace and harmony, of which they had hitherto stood forth as an example to other Churches; and avoid giving any one occasion, by their declamatory statements, to suspect that some serious contentions were fostered amongst them. But if they did happen to differ on some points, it was lawful for them to institute amongst themselves private and friendly conferences on such topics; only, they must see to it that these differences do not find their way from the Ecclesiastical Court into the pulpit, and thence to the public. Should they fail in this duty, they (the senators) would be obliged to have recourse to other remedies, that no harm might accrue to the Church and the Republic.'

To these counsels, after having retired a little for deliberation, the ministers replied, through the Rev. J. Ambrosius, 'That they were in the highest degree grateful to the honourable senators for their care of the Amsterdam Church.

For themselves, they were actuated by a most intense desire to preserve peace, which they had now cultivated for thirteen years, and had never afforded ground to any one for thinking otherwise of them. But if any one of their number felt himself to be chargeable with the above-named delinquency, his duty it was to rid himself of it. Hitherto it had been their strenuous endeavour to adjust, if possible by friendly conferences, the difference that had arisen between Arminius and the classis; and to that matter, and consequently to the restoration of peace, they would forthwith give their best attention.' [Ex schedul. MS. Arminii.].

Arminius, having obtained leave to speak, then addressed himself to the senators, and solemnly protested, 'That in expounding the seventh chapter of the Romans, in a way different from that adopted by many of the Reformed, he had not taught, nor did he wish to teach, anything whatever that was in any respect at variance with the Confession and Palatine Catechism. He had not entertained a doubt that it would be free to him, in the exercise of that liberty to discuss sacred subjects which belonged to all Christians and Christian teachers whatsoever, to expound this or that passage of Scripture according to the dictates of conscience. Further, since the hinge of the existing difference turned mainly on this point, that some thought his opinion of that passage opposed to the received ecclesiastical formularies, and that this was a charge of which he could be easily convicted, he, for his part, held himself in readiness, for the vindication of his name, to enter into a conference with his compeers; but he earnestly entreated that such conference should take place in the presence of the senators themselves, or their delegates; for he anticipated that the issue of this case would be more satisfactory were these influential men to be present, not as witnesses merely, but as moderators and righteous arbiters in respect to all that might be advanced on either side.'

The Rev. J. Kuchlinus, on hearing this, instantly arose, and after some prefatory reference to the fidelity with which he himself had discharged his duty for thirteen years, begged, in opposition to Arminius, that the conference in question, of which many were so solicitous, might, according to the usage of the Church, be entered into in presence of the classis alone. At length both sides having been heard with the utmost attention, the ministers were ordered to retire for a little; and after gravely deliberating on the matter, the honourable Cant intimated to them, in name of the whole of that august body, 'That it was the opinion and decree of the honourable senators, that the Church Court should allow this whole matter to rest, and permit whatever discussions had arisen out of it up to this time to be consigned to oblivion. A fresh conference upon it did not appear to them to be suitable, or likely to do good. They (the ministers) must henceforth be on their guard lest any of them should give vent to new doctrines from the pulpit. Should any of them have opinions in which they differed from other divines, and on which they boasted a profounder knowledge, it would be incumbent on them to reserve these to themselves, and to talk them over in a friendly manner with their compeers. Meanwhile, those who think differently, and who cannot be convinced of error, must be calmly forborne with until the points in dispute be decided by the authority of some council.' This decree of the chief rulers was followed up by a very grave and serious admonition from Cant himself, and W. Bardes, to cultivate that fraternal harmony and peace by which they were wont to be distinguished; after listening to which, the ministers expressed their acknowledgements and withdrew.

CHAPTER III.

ARMINIUS, IN EXPOUNDING ROMANS IX., ENCOUNTERS FRESH

STORMS; CONFUTES THE CALUMNIES OF PLANCIUS; AND

CORRESPONDS, ON POINTS IN DISPUTE, WITH GELLIUS SNECANUS

AND FRANCIS JUNIUS. —A.D. 1592—1597.

THE foregoing matter being settled, and the peace of the Church having, in the way narrated, been to some extent restored, Arminius forthwith proceeded with his series of discourses on the Epistle to the Romans. To these, high and low flocked in crowds, as the day came round, including individuals of diverse shades of religious opinion. Nor were the aims of the several auditors of a less varied complexion. Some were attracted by genuine attachment to the man, and by the very great celebrity associated with his name. Others rushed upon him, on the other hand, by a sort of blind impulse, and listened to his discourses with no other view than to extract from them materials with which to lessen his growing fame, and array against him as much as possible of envy and ill-will. This Arminius soon suspected, and deemed it his duty, in consequence, to take the more care, on the one hand not to do violence to his conscience, by advocating certain doctrines of the truth of which he had some doubt; but neither, on the other, to advance aught at variance with received opinions which might justly and warrantably offend the ears of dissentients.

But with all the prudence and perseverance with which he pursued this aim, now that an unfavourable opinion had once been formed against him, he could not succeed in thoroughly rooting it out of the minds of his compeers, and of those who yielded themselves up to their authority.

That feeling began especially to be resuscitated in the commencement of the following year, on the occasion of his expounding the ninth chapter of the Romans. While occupied with this chapter, and aware that it was everywhere cited by Reformed divines as the main prop of their tenet of absolute predestination, Arminius made up his mind neither to advocate nor to contradict that opinion, but contented himself with affirming that the apostle in this place prosecutes the argument and the aim which he had prescribed to himself in the foregoing chapters, and vindicates his doctrine of the justification of man by faith against a variety of objections urged by the Jews

[Vid. Uitenb. Hist. Eccles.]. These, accordingly, he refuted in several discourses, and by solid reasonings; but although he was allowed by many to have acted the part of a strenuous champion of the Christian religion, he roused against himself the less favourable judgments of others. For when, in the course of elucidating the scope of St Paul, and expounding this memorable chapter, he pursued a path in some respects new, and made no reference whatever to the more crude opinions which were commonly grounded upon it, the most of his ministerial brethren inveighed against him all the more that they saw him rising rapidly in the estimation of Lutherans, Mennonites, and others, who were dissatisfied with the harsher statements, on that subject, of the Reformed. The Ecclesiastical Senate, therefore, having met once and again in the absence of Anninius, at length, on the 25th of March, began openly to deal with him. On that occasion, the Rev. J. Hallius, in name of the entire judicatory, addressed him, and declared 'that he had listened with the utmost pain to the complaints of some of the citizens, whom his lectures on the ninth chapter of the Romans had in the highest degree disturbed. The avowed enemies of the Church had thence taken occasion to cavil at the Reformed doctrine; and many Christians were furnished with good ground to suspect that on several doctrines some diversity of opinion was secretly fostered between him and the other ministers of the gospel. With the view of foreclosing further alienation of spirit, the Presbytery had resolved to warn him of this matter, and to request that he would preach the self-same doctrines as his colleagues, and declare openly from the pulpit that he had never uttered anything contrary to the Confession and Catechism, and that those who suspected him of such a thing had very grievously misunderstood his discourses.' [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii. Vide et acta Presbyt. Amstel. ci'ata a Trigland in Hist. Eccles.].

To this Arminius replied, 'That he had heard with no less pain of the clandestine slanders of some, and of his being branded with the names of heretic, libertine, and Pelagian. He had never given any man occasion to think so unfavourably of him. The Reformed Confession and Catechism he had never contradicted, but, on the contrary, had always preached in harmony with them; and more than once, from the very pulpit, had he made a declaration to that effect. But if any man would accuse him openly, and in his presence, and thought he could convict him of that crime, he was ready, there and then, to hear the evidence, and defend his own innocence. It was theirs frankly to accept this candid declaration, to divest the minds of others of such injurious suspicions, and to allow him to rejoice in the name of a good man until it could be proved by indubitable testimony that he had fallen out of the appellation. He, for his part, deemed this admonition of the Presbytery uncalled for, so far as concerned himself; and in the exercise of the same right which the brethren were using in regard to him, as well as from a desire for the preservation of peace, he, in his turn, warned and entreated them not to deliver anything at variance with the Word of God, or the received standards of faith, and never to use expressions extraneous to these, of a nature fitted to stir doubts in the minds of the weak, or furnish any with an occasion of stumbling. Nay more, since no man had openly accused him, and merely a rumour had spread, that in discourses lately delivered he had betrayed the existence of some undefined sort of difference between him and his brethren in the ministry, it was as much their duty to see to it that they agreed well with him, as it was his duty to see to it that he agreed well with them — it being incumbent on both to do what in them lay for the preservation of peace, in those articles to the truth of which they had all equally subscribed.' This was spoken with some warmth, and many speeches followed on both sides; when one of the elders betrayed sufficiently his want of self-control in the following outburst: — 'He saw the arts of the Devil to disturb the peace of this Church. Some of the rulers themselves had this object in view. It was of no use for Arminius to appeal to the Confession and Catechism, seeing he had already explained two passages of Scripture against the sense of these standards. For his part, after hearing him interpret the seventh chapter of Romans, he could never derive any benefit from his discourses.'

To this Arminius modestly replied, 'That, by the help of God, he would not prove an instigator and author of strife. It ought to be matter of faithful inquiry, by whom, and through what secret channels, the sworn foe of the human race was attempting to sow controversies and engender discord. He hoped better things of his lords, the clement rulers of the city. So far was he from believing that any one of them aimed at such an end, that he, on the contrary, felt assured, that whatever authority they had at command, it would be all exercised with the utmost moderation, in the way of calling to order such ecclesiastics as were neglecting their duty and fomenting division. His own conscience witnessed to himself — what he was further assured of by the testimony of not a few — that his discourses had not been useless, nor their delivery without fruit. As to the passages of Scripture expounded contrary to the sense of the Confession, that was a charge of which no man could convict him. He acknowledged that the 18th verse of the seventh chapter of the Romans was quoted in the margin of the Confession with a somewhat different application; but truly, if every divine of the Reformed Church must needs stick so tightly by the track of that Confession, and if it was to be at once set clown as an enormous offence for any one, in quoting passages of Scripture, too, to deviate from it even the breadth of his nail, it would be an easy matter for him to prove the most of his co-presbyters guilty of this delinquency; for more than once had they preached in contrariety, not merely to certain passages cited in the margin, but to some which stand out to view in the very text of the Confession.' [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii.]. To this the Reverend Kuchlinus did not object, but subjoined, 'That if there was agreement in all those points which constituted the hinge on which the articles of the Confession turned, there would be little trouble in adjusting the rest.'

These things accordingly were dismissed; after which, certain questions were started respecting the duty of elders and ecclesiastical discipline, on which Arminius and his reverend colleague, John Halsberg, were suspected of entertaining some erroneous opinion. They defended themselves each in a lengthy reply, and cleared themselves of the charges which were preferred against them. At last, addressing Arminius, J. Hallius, the president and moderator of the Presbytery for the time being, declared that he had much pleasure in hearing him express his readiness to cultivate union with his brethren in the matter of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline; and after praying that God would smile on these beginnings, and guide the whole affair to an issue happy and prosperous for the Church, he dismissed the meeting.

Some hot-headed zealots, however, determined that the matter should not rest here, stirred up fresh strifes against Arminius; and by dint of incessant slanders they so far succeeded, that the Presbytery, convened without his knowledge on the 22nd April, resolved, 'That he be called upon to declare distinctly, and without any circumlocution, his opinion on all the articles of faith; and that, in the event of his demurring to this request, certain theses and antitheses be forthwith prepared, on which a conference shall be held with him.' [Vide acta Presbyt. Amstel. citata a Triglaudio in Hist. Eccles. pag. 284.].

As soon as Arminius received intimation of this counsel and decree, which he did on the 6th May, he decided that it was not his duty to give an immediate reply, but that, on the contrary, he ought to petition the Presbytery for a reasonable space of time to consider the matter. At a meeting of the Presbytery a few weeks after (on the 20th May), some of its members reminded him of the matter, and ceased not to rake up the old embers of strife; when Arminius, starting to. his feet in the midst of them, challenged all, with a loud voice, to stand forth, whosoever they were, that had a mind to produce aught from his discourses that was worthy of censure [Ex schedulis Arminii.]. No one rising, some one of them threw out the solitary objection,

'That from the testimony of Martinists, Anabaptists, and even libertines themselves, who gloried in his discourses on the ninth chapter of the Romans, it was not unwarrantable to infer that he had taught and maintained something different from that which was taught by his brother ministers, and everywhere taught by Reformed divines.' This consequence Arminius denied, and said,

'That to him it appeared strange, that men of so many conflicting opinions could applaud his discourses, but that no one of his own order — no one of this meeting — had heard anything which could be shown to be at variance with the Word of God, and the received formularies of consent.' To this one of the elders rejoined, 'That it must indeed be admitted that he had been rigidly on his guard against openly advancing anything worthy of censure; but that he had nevertheless employed ambiguous and equivocal modes of speech.'

Arminius here asserted his innocence, and demanded proof of the above allegation, that he might the better avoid, for the time to come, such modes of speech; but no one was found who would undertake the task of substantiating that charge.

Nor was this all. A few days after (on the 27th May), at the very next meeting of the Ecclesiastical Senate, Arminius, perceiving that the minds of many were not yet set at rest, called out twice or thrice in the open meeting for the secret calumniators of his name, and ordered them to produce in his presence whatever they had against him. This challenge being given, Kuchlinus immediately asked 'Where Plancius was now;' and began to urge on him

'That, as he had occasionally, in the absence of Arminius, started doubts as to his doctrine, he should come out with them now that Arminius was present and within hearing. This was the proper place; this the fit time to speak out his mind.' [This is more smartly expressed in the original by the pungent proverb,

'hie Rhodum, hie saltum esse.' — TR.] Pressed by this summons, and called upon by Arminius to stand forth as his adversary, Plancius repudiated that insidious name of adversary, but acknowledged that he had observed several things in the discourses of Arminius which did not correspond with sufficient exactness to the doctrines received by the Reformed Church. The sum of his accusation was as follows: —

I. Arminius, when expounding the ninth chapter of the Romans, had taught

'that no one is condemned except on account of sin' — thereby excluding all infants from condemnation.

II. He had also declared 'that too much could not be ascribed to good works, nor could they be sufficiently commended, provided no merit were attributed to them.'

III. He had affirmed that 'Angels are not immortal.' [Ex schedulis Arminii. Vide vitam Uitenb. Belgico idiomate ab ipso conscript. edit. 1645. p. 54.]

To these several heads of charge Arminius replied.

As to the first, when he affirmed that sin is the cause of condemnation, he did not by these words except original sin; nor did Plancius rightly understand the nature of our original taint if he meant to exclude it from the designation of sin.

The second, relating to what he had affirmed of good works, he was so far from disclaiming, that he would defend it as the truth.

Here Plancius put the question — 'If justification, then, was to be ascribed to good works also, provided no merit were ascribed to them?'

Arminius replied, 'That justification is to be ascribed, not to works, but to faith; in proof of which St Paul says, in Romans iv. 4th and 5th — "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." '

As to the third head of charge, that relating to angels, he acknowledged that he had given vent to that opinion, and defended it with solid arguments, never indeed in public, but privately on one occasion in the house of Plancius; adding, that it was still his opinion that immortality was the peculiar attribute of God alone — this being evident from the testimony of Paul in 1st Timothy vi.

16. The angels, indeed, were, and would continue to be, happy and immortal spirits, not however by virtue of their nature, but by the external sustentation of God, eternally preserving them in being — just as human bodies before the fall were mortal, and susceptible of dissolution, but yet would never have been subjected to death, had not sin supervened.

This discussion with Plancius he followed up by the declaration, 'That up to that hour, he had never, so far as he knew, taught anything at variance with the Confession and Catechism; and that he received the several articles and doctrines of faith, comprehended in these writings, in the very sense in which they were everywhere explained by the Reformed Church. The only scruple of which he was then conscious, related to the interpretation of the sixteenth article of the Belgic Confession, to the terms of which, however, he willingly adhered.' [Ex Actis Presbyt. Amstel.]. On this understanding', the Presbytery decided, 'That there was no necessity for any further dealing with Arminius in regard to this matter, but that fraternal fellowship continue to be cultivated with him, until the true and genuine sense of the article just named should be more clearly opened up to him by the blessing of God, and by the interpretation of a General Synod.' [Vid. Trig-land. Hist. Eccles. p. 284.].

A reconciliation being thus effected with his colleagues, and the disputes that had arisen respecting his discourses being allayed, he was permitted after that to live at peace in the Church. At subsequent periods, indeed, the envy of certain parties led them to strew secret snares in his path, and to put an injurious construction, occasionally, upon some of his best words and deeds.

This he experienced when engaged with the exposition of the thirteenth chapter of the Romans, where, in the course of profound and learned discussions on the various duties of magistrates, he was thought by some to have conceded to them too much of charge and jurisdiction in matters of religion. But we find it nowhere recorded that on the ground of these and other things of the like trivial importance, proceedings were openly and publicly instituted against him. From this time, therefore, in an active and uninterrupted course, he not only prosecuted that series of lectures, but also prosecuted, concurrently therewith, on stated days, his exposition of the Prophecies of Malachi, which he completed in sixty-nine discourses. Moreover, by his indefatigable study of theology, and his solid acquirements, no less, in the liberal arts, he became increasingly every day the ornament and the boast, not only of the Church, but even of the Republic and people of Amsterdam.

Hence, when in course of the year 1594, it was in agitation to remodel the elementary schools, the illustrious Senate of the city thought fit to make choice of him in preference to others, to whom the charge of performing this office should, by public appointment, be committed. Wherefore, acting the part, on this occasion, of a most faithful governor of schools, he drew up, with the view of reducing them to a better state, those scholastic regulations which, exhibiting alike the duties of master and pupil, are statedly rehearsed to this day, every half year, in the Choir of the New Temple at Amsterdam, by the rectors of that institution, at the close of the spring and autumn examinations.

This is proved by the very autograph of these laws, in the handwriting of Arminius himself, which is preserved to this day by that eminent leader of the Remonstrants, and professor of theology among them — Philip Limborch.

That distinguished man, too, the director of the Amsterdam school, to whom, as respects our studies, we are under the deepest obligation — the incomparable Adrian Junius, of Utrecht, used often to refer with pride to their having obtained a framer of laws of such great celebrity, and to congratulate the school of Amsterdam on that behalf.

Meanwhile (not to waste time with these details) Arminius proceeded to investigate more thoroughly the generally received tenets of the Geneva School, respecting Divine Predestination, and strove with all his might to extricate himself from those doubts and difficulties in which he had hitherto stuck fast. While intent at this work, nothing interested him more than to discover that, here and there, other leaders of the Reformed Church, distinguished in like manner for learning and piety, were possessed with the self-same solicitude and desire. Pre-eminent among these at that time was Gellius Snecanus, a most learned minister of Friesland. This man having, in the year 1596, published his 'Introduction to the Ninth Chapter of the Romans,' Arminius was penetrated with the more delight that he found his views to coincide almost entirely with his own. On perusing the commentary of this writer (in whose judgment he reposed very much confidence), he at once discovered that he had taken the very same view of the scope of the apostle, and of the principal argument treated in this chapter, which he himself, when engaged in expounding the same portion, had shortly before propounded from the pulpit in Amsterdam. He ingenuously acknowledged that that chapter of Paul's epistle always appeared to him to be enveloped in thickest darkness, and to be of most difficult exposition, until by that course which Snecanus, and he himself some time before, had pursued, the light shone in and dispelled the gloom [Ex Epist. Arm. ad G. Snecan.].

Wherefore, prizing highly the work of this celebrated divine, he not only thanked him by letter, but also transmitted to him, on his part, an epistolary

'Analysis of the Ninth Chapter of the Romans,' for the sake of testifying their harmony of sentiment, and of proving that that well-known passage of the Apostle did little or nothing to confirm that decree of absolute election and reprobation which very many deduced from it. But he deemed it dutiful, in the circumstances, to use much circumspection; for the times in which he lived did not admit either of his safely impugning or freely advocating views in any respect at variance with that dismal opinion of a fatal decree to which, he devoutly believed, the most celebrated fathers of the Reformed Church, even as others, had been led to subscribe by a certain veneration for the Sacred Scriptures. He thought it advisable, therefore, above all, in order to disburden himself of his scruples on this subject, without tumult and uproar, and without disparaging those whose reputation it was of the utmost consequence to the Church to preserve inviolate, that he should communicate his thoughts (long kept to himself, and subjected to frequent revision) on the dogma above named, to several individuals of the highest name and authority, and confer with them privately both by tongue and pen. For if he had but proved his opinion to their satisfaction, he anticipated that there would be little difficulty in proving it to the rest, who all hung, for the most part, on the lips of these great men, and were likely, erelong, to make their appeal to them. Happen what might, he hoped to make it evident to every candid judge, that he had practised no arts of concealment, and had never shrunk from the judgment and scrutiny of any; but in the event of his becoming, in this way, more assured of the truth of his sentiments, he cherished the hope that the whole case would come Eventually to be submitted, in due form, under the sanction of public authority, to the solemn decision of a theological council, and the true and milder opinion on the subject duly and formally ratified [Ex Epist.

dedic. praefixa Examini libelli Perkinsiani de Praedest. modo et ordine.].

Trusting to these considerations, and having now for some time made the Revds. M. Lydius, J. Taffin, and his colleague, J. Kuchlinus, cognisant of his doubts and his plans, at their instigation he resolved to open his mind on all those points to that great pillar of theology, and of the Reformed religion, well known for his moderation towards those, even Papists themselves, who differed from him in opinion [Beautifully characteristic of Junius is the following morceau, which we owe to Gerard Brandt, the father of our biographer:— 'In a company of French divines the following question was put to Junius, viz., "If you were to lose all your writings, but had it in your power to save one, which of them would you wish to keep?" He answered, "THE PEACEABLE

CHRISTIAN — [a treatise intended to promote peace]— for the rest of my books I wrote as a divine, but this as a Christian." ' — Hist. of Reform, in Low Countries, vol. ii. p. 21. — TR.], Francis Junius, of Bourges, who in the University of Leyden, of all who at that time professed sacred literature, confessedly occupied the highest place.

Accordingly, being invited, early in the year 1597, to the marriage of the Rev.

J. Kuchlinus — who, having sometime previously undertaken the office of professor, had contracted a matrimonial engagement with the aunt of Arminius — he set out for Leyden; and on that occasion, on a certain afternoon, he entered fully and freely into conversation with Junius on the cause of the fall of our first parents, and on the mode of that fall, namely, how far it may be regarded as contingent, and how far as necessary. The occasion, materials, and scope of this interview were furnished by a certain treatise on that subject which Junius had lately published. In the course of it, Arminius started various doubts and difficulties respecting the mystery of divine providence and infinite prescience [Vide pleniorem hujus rei narrat. in Epist. Armin. ad Uitenb. 7. Febr. 1597.]. They also entered into the question

— 'How, admitting that immutable and fixed decree which the followers of Calvin and Beza attributed to God, man could be said to have nevertheless voluntarily fallen, and to have been master of his own actions?' [Vid. Epist.

Eccles, in folio Amst. 1684, edit. pag. 33, 34, 35.]. To these, and other difficulties of the same description, Junius replied in such a manner, and cleared up so ably and satisfactorily the nature of things contingent, and of things necessary, that Arminius shortly after declared, in a letter to Uitenbogaert, 'that he had been as much charmed with the answers of Junius as if he had discovered an immense treasure;' and further, 'that in comparison with a knowledge sure and satisfactory to his own mind on points relating to providence and predestination, on which he had now, for seven years, been perplexed with distracting doubts, he set a trivial value on all the wealth of Croesus and of Midas, and on the treasures of the whole world.' On perceiving, moreover, that the sentiments of this very eminent divine, on the points above-named, did not differ from his own, and that this interview with him thus far had turned out according to his wish, he took occasion to discuss some points also connected with predestination, not so much to obtain information respecting them — which, owing to the limited time, and the advancing evening, was scarcely practicable — as to intimate that it was a subject in which he stuck fast, and that he hoped to be able, by his aid, to get himself speedily extricated. This aid Junius most kindly promised him, if he would communicate, by letter, whatever points were agitating his mind. On this they exchanged a pledge of silence, lest, by the officious zeal of certain parties, some mischief should chance to befall the one or the other. Arminius, accordingly, overjoyed at the offer, and deeming the opportunity too precious to be neglected, sent him, a few months after, an epistolary disquisition concerning the truth of different opinions on the subject of predestination, in which a variety of arguments were advanced to prove that the sentiments of certain parties laboured under many difficulties [Ex Epist. Dedic. Bertii Epistolicae huic Arm. cum Junio collatioui praefixa.]. In particular, as, in the estimation of not a few, the illustrious Junius himself, treading in the footsteps of the Thomists, seemed not so much to abandon as merely to shade off that harsher sentiment of Calvin and Beza (for he held the subject of predestination to be, not man as whom God had not yet decreed to create, nor man viewed as created with the foreknowledge of his fall, but man viewed as created, in so far as he, furnished with natural gifts, was invited to avail himself of a supernatural good — a position which Junius repeatedly defended in the university), Arminius attempted to prove, by a few select arguments, that both opinions (that is, both his and Calvin's), in addition to other disadvantages, involved the necessity of sin, and, consequently, that recourse must be had to a third (that is, his own), which presupposed the creation and the fall. On the strength of this position, it was his intention to proceed further and at length affirm the decree of God concerning the salvation of believers, and the condemnation of unbelievers. But to this communication Junius replied some considerable time after, and sent, too, in his turn, a written statement which, to use the words of Arminius himself, was

'truly pious, learned, and full of brotherly love.' We may give the introductory part of this reply, as it stands, in proof of the consummate modesty, and of the gentleness of spirit, which characterised that distinguished man.

'The cause of my long silence, esteemed brother, has been Tertullian, with whom, you are aware, I have now for a considerable time been engaged

[Junius here alludes to his Notes on Tertullian, a work with which, it appears, he was at this time occupied. — TR.]. Meanwhile, I put your letter in a drawer out of my sight, that, as soon as I had time to do so, I might remember the duty I owed you and attend to the tenor of your request. And indeed you wish me to give you a clear explanation of a very grave question — a question the amount of truth involved in which God alone fully knows. What is sufficient he has revealed in the written Word, which, according to the will of God, we each consult. What is your opinion, and what is not, you plainly state: what is my opinion you wish me to declare; that by this mutual encounter and disclosure of mind, we may elucidate truth on the subject of Divine grace. According to the measure which God hath dealt to me, I will do what I can, and state whatever I know of this most stupendous mystery, whether I should be seeing in truth, or through the glass of opinion; that what is of God you may share with me, and what we see not you may investigate with me — as far as may be found in the Word. What is of my opinion, merely, if you should see further than I do, kindly and fraternally disclose, and by salutary counsel recall me into the way of truth. Of preliminary points I will here say nothing, my wish being to proceed at once to the subject itself, as tending more to "the use of edifying," which the Apostle enjoins. All, as I judge, are zealous for piety and truth; but all do not, on this account, amid their piety, see the whole truth [The original has 'omnes quaerunt,' a typographical mistake for 'omnem vident.'

Comp. Collatio in Arm. oper. p. 159. — TR.]. We all know in part, and prophesy in part: and day by day does the Spirit of truth lead us into all truth

[1 Cor. xiii. 9; John xvi. 13.]. Part of the truth we perceive, and part we teach: the rest will the Spirit of truth, in his own time, give to them that ask it. May he therefore give to both of us to receive and to communicate the truth.'

Thus far the distinguished Junius: in the drift of whose very learned reply, however, when more thoroughly examined, Arminius could by no means acquiesce. His conviction was, that this very acute divine, partly by giving a common aspect to the object of predestination (which is almost incomprehensible), and partly by straining the language of authors, wished, on this subject, to compound one opinion out of many, contrary to the mind of those by whom these opinions were severally maintained [Ex Epist. dedic.

collationi huic praefixa.]. Hence, after careful perusal of the documents, Arminius had resolved to bring the begun correspondence to a close, and to impose silence on himself for the time being; but he learned, shortly after, that his epistolary discussion had been communicated, by Junius himself, to one who boarded in his house, and in whom he reposed too much confidence; that this individual had transcribed it; and that, in consequence, it had taken wing, and got into circulation among the students, so much so, that his colleague Plancius twitted him with sufficient bitterness, as having got his mouth effectually stopped by the reply of Junius. In these circumstances, he deemed it his duty to ply the web of that correspondence to the end. Roused, accordingly, by the occasion, and trusting to the courtesy of Junius himself, he drew up new and succinct considerations on his reply, under the barbarous name of Replicae. At the conclusion of this piece, and by way of postscript, he declared 'that he had submitted these considerations to the eminent Junius, not so much from a desire to confute him, as to elicit from him more extended explanations, with a view to obtain satisfaction on the point in question, and get his mind set at rest.' He added, 'that if he had written anything contrary to the truth, his prayer was, that God would forgive him, and point out to him the truth; but if, on the other hand, he had advanced aught that was agreeable to the truth, his prayer was, that God would confirm him in it, and incline Junius to embrace it, that through him greater authority might thereby be daily conceded to the truth, and that it might be propagated more and more.' To these considerations of Arminius, however (which, at a period long subsequent, after the death of Junius, were enlarged by their author), Junius never replied; and (for what reason is not known) he retained them in his possession for an entire period of six years, even to the last day of his life.

[Gerard Brandt, the father of our biographer, leaves his readers to account for the silence of Junius, either on the ground that it might have done harm to have stirred the question further in such times, or 'that he found himself pressed too home, and, as the friends of Arminius think, knew not what to say to some of the points of his reply.' — Hist. of Reform. in Low Countries, vol. ii.

p. 20. — TR.]

CHAPTER IV.

INTENSE ARDOUR OF ARMINIUS IN INVESTIGATING DIVINE TRUTH, WITH CONNECTED INCIDENTS; AND HIS DEVOTED AND BENEVOLENT

PASTORAL LABOURS AT THE TIME OF THE PLAGUE. A.D. 1597 - 1602.

NOTWITHSTANDING the silence of Junius, the subject of our memoir abated nothing of his zeal to find out the truth, being prepared to grasp it with both hands by whomsoever it might be shown to him. In this spirit, he sought the assistance of no one more than that most eloquent minister of the Church at the Hague, J. Uitenbogaert, whose refined and cultivated judgment he held in such esteem, as to think that scarcely any one could pronounce with more accuracy and decision on controversies of this kind [Vid. Arm. ad Uitenb.

Epist. 19 Octob. 1597.]. It was this high estimate, moreover, which led him to submit those considerations on the papers of Junius, of which we have just made mention, to the judgment of this friend alone, some little time before they were dispatched to Junius himself. We think it well here to transcribe his own words, as worthy of record, which he addressed to Uitenbogaert, at the same conjuncture, in a letter dated October 19, 1597: — 'Care ought to be taken,' says he, 'to search out arguments for a known truth which shall be at once solid and plain, in order that such truth may gain the assent of those who, with sincerity of heart, and from a dictate of conscience, controvert it, among whom I enrol my name as one, if, in any respect, I do err from the truth. But I cannot sufficiently marvel at the presumptuous boldness of some men, who brand whatever suits not their own palate with the ignominious mark of heresy, seeing they are unwilling to bestow almost any pains in acquainting themselves with controversies, and, if ever so willing, are not competent, inasmuch as they are destitute of the erudition necessary to determine matters of such vast moment. Truth, even theological truth, so far as concerns the accurate knowledge of controversies of this sort, has been sunk in a deep well, whence it cannot be drawn forth without much effort. So true is this as respects that point with which we are now occupied, that the man who should question the justice of the remark would, by this very fact, declare that he had never bent his own mind to the serious consideration of the subject. O that the God of truth may grant me it ere long, that my mind may be set at rest! Then, indeed, shall I exceedingly rejoice as one who had discovered a precious treasure; while to all those who had contributed any measure of assistance, I should acknowledge myself bound by many and deep obligations.'

To this same divine, and pre-eminently esteemed friend, Arminius, with the view of striking further light into these controversies, transmitted, in the year following (1598), a sort of theological table on the subject of predestination, in which were exhibited, as in a mirror, everything relating to that question which stood out to his view as worthy of discussion [Vid. hanc Tabul. inter. Epist.

Eccles. Ep. 20. p. 41.]. Nor did he deem it dutiful to stop short at this stage, but shortly after wished further to try whether the help of foreigners would avail to extricate him from those difficulties that distressed his mind.

Accordingly, after the publication, about this time, of a work of William Perkins, a very celebrated divine in the University of Cambridge, entitled, 'A Christian and Perspicuous Discussion concerning the Mode and Order of Predestination, and concerning the Extent of Divine Grace,' — the name of this author having been previously well known to him, through other publications of distinguished merit, he resolved to procure the treatise without delay, and give it a careful perusal. He did so; but finding himself sticking as fast as ever in the same labyrinths of doubt, he thought it might not be unadvisable to institute a friendly correspondence with this theologian on the subject of his treatise. Wherefore, prompted by the occasion, he applied his mind to the composition of that most elaborate and temperate Examination of this same Treatise of Perkins, which, without doubt, would have been sent to him, but for the circumstance, that almost at the very time when he was already in the act of applying a finishing hand to it, the intelligence reached him that this distinguished divine of the Anglican Church and University had exchanged the present life for another and a better [Ex Epist. dedic. huic Arminii libello praemissa.]. From that moment, he kept this very polished little production, along with others of the same stamp, to himself and his friends.

About the same time, too, and with the utmost alacrity, he set himself to construct a kind of Synopsis of Theological Common Places, with the sole view of becoming richer and more practised in that heavenly wisdom which everywhere presents itself for our understanding in the Sacred Scriptures, and to the investigation of which he was impelled by an inextinguishable ardour.

With this view, in the course of the year 1599, he resolved to peruse carefully whatever authors might be at hand, or within his power to consult, at once the ancient and the more recent theologians; to weigh accurately the several topics; to observe everything worthy of note, and to enter each under its appropriate division; and to subject to strict criticism whatever might merit any measure of animadversion. What he accomplished, and what kind of progress he made in this undertaking (the remains of which, and a certain fragment only, it has been permitted us to see), may be gathered from several letters of his to Uitenbogaert, which will be found inserted among the Epistles of Distinguished and Learned Men [Epist. Praest. Vir. p. 98, 99, &c.].

Moreover, during this year, he certainly evinced, in a very conspicuous manner, his signal affection and kindness for the celebrated J. Drusius, who professed Hebrew Literature, at Franeker, with distinguished renown. For, entertaining the opinion, and freely expressing it to others, that this man was destined to promote Hebrew Literature, and illuminate the genuine interpretation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew sources themselves, Arminius left no means untried by which the Church of Christ might obtain from his labours that benefit which was meet. There happened, about that time, to be much talk of a new translation of the Sacred Books into the vernacular tongue, the charge of preparing which had, five years previously, been committed, by the honourable States, to Philip van Marnix, Lord of St Aldegonde, but he having been removed by death, nothing occasioned more solicitude to the deputies of the churches of North and South Holland, than that this very grave undertaking, commenced under propitious omens by St Aldegonde, should either be carried on to its completion, or by some other arrangement begun anew. As, moreover, these deputies seemed resolved to agitate the matter with the States on the first opportunity, the subject of our memoir left no stone unturned to get those who presided at the helm of the Republic to have regard to Drasius first of all, and to his judgment on the matter. He felt that he had reasons the most satisfactory for commending him above all others [Vii Arm. Epist. ad Uiteub. 8. Sept. 1599.], both on account of his known and approved skill, for many years back, in the Oriental languages, and also because St Aldegonde himself, at the very time when many were requesting him to undertake the task, had urged the churches rather to turn their eyes and their thoughts towards Drusius [Vid. Epist. Aldegondii ad Drusium 17 Jun. 1594. Vitse Drusii insertam.]. The recommendation of Arminius, however, as also of Uitenbogaert, availed nothing, owing to the sinister judgments of certain leaders in the Church respecting that celebrated divine, and his soundness in the faith. For, suspecting that he cherished I know not what monster in his breast, and that he allowed his mind too much license in explaining certain passages of Scripture (a decree having previously passed the Synod of South Holland, which circumscribed within very narrow limits whoever should be appointed to superintend the version of the Sacred Book), the ministers referred to excluded Drusius not only from the task of translation itself, but even from the province of inspecting the translation. To avoid the appearance, however, of setting at nought the labours of this distinguished man, the States-General, in the year following, commissioned him to write a Commentary, or Notes, on the more difficult passages of the Old Testament, duly comparing and examining, on every such text, the Chaldee, Greek, and Latin interpreters; and, by way of remuneration, they stipulated to pay him, for a series of years, an annual salary of four hundred florins [Ex Vita Drusii.].

In the meantime, Arminius, while watching to the very utmost of his ability over the interests of others, whose labours he deemed most essential for reducing ecclesiastical affairs to a better condition, was himself obliged to put up with many calumnies and injurious judgments in regard to his own aims. In what spirit he contemplated ecclesiastical matters at this time, may be inferred from one of his familiar letters to Uitenbogaert, written en the first of August, in which he pours out, in the following expressions, a soul lacerated and oppressed by the evils that overspread the Christian community: — 'How can he rejoice who, over and above the abounding impiety and unrighteousness that riots throughout the whole world, perceives in the very Church of Christ, in Christianity itself, such a great diversity of sentiment on the subject of religion — so great a license in men, it matters not of what description, to vent any sort of opinion in opposition to the truth—so much confidence and vehemence in the most of those who are in authority with their own party, in imposing and obtruding on the entire Christian Church whatever seems good to themselves, as articles of faith necessary to salvation? Truly when I think of these things, my soul melts within me, and is agitated and tost on so impetuous a tide of conflicting thoughts, that, unable to decide what part to act amid these convulsions, it finds relief only in exclaiming to its God — Give, O

Lord, peace to thine Israel: peace be within its walls, prosperity within thy palaces! Heal the stripes and wounds of Joseph, that brethren and kindred, united by the one girdle of truth necessary for thy glory, and for the salvation of men, and by the one bond of steadfast love, may be allowed to celebrate thy praises in thine own house, from generation to generation.'

Almost in the same frame of mind as that in which he thus portrays the state of the Church, he, in a letter dated 8th September 1599, takes a survey also of his own position, on which he opened his mind to the same friend, in the following terms [Ex Epist Arm. ad Uitenb. 8 Sept. Script. 1599.]:— 'I am exerting myself to the utmost in teaching the truth already known to me, and in searching out what is not; yea also, in more thoroughly investigating the truth which I do know, and in establishing and confirming it on solid grounds.

But these things I do in silence and in hope; putting up, meanwhile, with the preposterous zeal and scarcely sufferable vehomence of not a few, till God see meet to rid me of that annoyance, or impart to them a spirit of discretion and prudence, to temper and moderate their zeal. It is on the best of grounds, as it appears to me, that I ascribe to them a zeal without knowledge; for in nothing do I find them less engaged than in that which they are bound to by their office, of which it constitutes a part, and indeed the principal part, to investigate the truth. By reason of this, they have got possessed of an opinion and persuasion that they have already mastered the truth, so potent in the case of some of them that they venture, without premeditation, to give forth a peremptory judgment on any point, no matter what, even though a point the most difficult, and which up to that hour they had never thoroughly examined, to the great disadvantage, unquestionably, of the Christian Church, and to the certain injury of truth.'

While, however, matters were in this state, the Annual Synod of the Church of South Holland, of which at that time he acted as president, imposed upon him the task of discussing and refuting, in a single book, all the errors of the Anabaptists [Vid. Parentis mei G. Bran'ii Hist. Reform, par. ii. pag. 6.]. Not unwillingly at first did he allow this province to be entrusted to him, partly because he was of opinion that such a work might be of some use to the Church, and partly also because he rejoiced to anticipate that by this decree of the Synod he would be placed beyond all suspicion of error, and beyond all controversy. But although he had scarcely entered on the first year of this century till he addressed himself with alacrity to the work assigned him —

collecting from all quarters the writings of the Anabaptists, and carefully perusing them in order to expiscate more thoroughly their ideas and sentiments on the several articles of faith — various circumstances conspired latterly to deter him from the undertaking. For the conviction gained upon him every day, that by most of his brethren this task [Ex Arm. Epist. ad Uitenb. 26

Jan. et 26 Maii Script. 1600.] had been presented to him, not in a spirit of sincerity, but with the mind and intent to elicit from himself a full expression of opinion on certain controverted points — particularly on the doctrines of Predestination and Free Will, on which these same Anabaptists had stirred controversy with the Reformed Church — that thence they might snatch occasion, in larger measure, of accusation against him; on which account he resolved, in the first instance, to prosecute the work but very coolly, and then eventually, on the ground of sundry engagements from different sides that distracted his attention, to abandon it altogether.

In these same critical times, moreover, when, among the troublesome points about to be started at the following Synod, this, too, was proposed by the brethren from Haarlem — 'Whether it would not be advisable that the ministers of the churches should annually renew their subscription of the Confession and Catechism, seeing individuals might be found who, though they had subscribed on being installed into office, nevertheless, at a subsequent period, gave manifest evidence of having changed their mind.'

Against this counsel and deed Arminius complained, in express terms as follows [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Uitenb. 26 Mail 1600 Script.]:— 'I am amazed at the short-sighted minds of men, who do not see that by such a step they at once cast suspicion on the good faith of all ministers, as a class of men that must be compelled to constancy in the faith by dint of annual subscriptions, and that they also scatter the seeds of daily strife. Just as if it could not happen that he who had no scruple on entering upon office, and thus subscribed with a good conscience, should begin, in process of time, to be in doubt as to any article, from which he shall not be able to disentangle himself before the recurrence of the time for the renewed subscription. Besides, this is an affair of equal concernment to all churches. Moreover, what prudent man ever deemed it to be the wont either of the State or the Church to institute a search after crimes which have not betrayed an existence, yea, and to drag into open contentions those who are meditating no evil? Do not these things appear to be the foundations of a new Spanish or Tridentine Inquisition? I write thus, not because I shrink from subscription, but as what the occasion demands.' Nay more, in the same epistle in which these statements occur, he thus animadverts on the attempt of certain of the churches: — 'It appears to me that many, as if apprehensive of being thought indifferent about ecclesiastical affairs, are meditating night and day whether they, too, might not be able to propose something to be discussed in the Synods. Such men need to be recalled to the saying of the apostle: Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.'

How very little, indeed, he himself came short in this last-named duty, is manifest from the fact, that during the course of a period of thirteen years he expounded, in addition to Malachi, of which we have previously made mention, almost the whole of Mark, Jonah, and the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians; and he brought to a close his exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans on the last day of September in the following year, 1601 [Ex Calendario Arm.]. Having despatched this work, he proceeded, in the commencement of the year 1602 [11th January.], to expound in public the Epistles to the seven Asiatic churches, which are contained in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation.

To what extent he distinguished himself during this year, as a pious and devoted pastor and watchman of the Church, the following narrative will satisfactorily show: — A pestilential heat, which spared no class in society, raged at this time through all the country, and throughout the city of Amsterdam, the capital of Holland, and the emporium of the whole world. And yet at this crisis, as if by a miracle, and by what he could not but regard as a most manifest proof of the special providence of God, while this plague was rioting through the whole town, it did not, during this year, seize on one of the chief magistrates, judges, treasurers, superintendents of orphans, ministers of religion, elders, deacons, almoners, school-rectors, or teachers. When first the deadly scourge began its ravages, and the aggregate of funerals came to be frightfully on the increase, his mind was agitated not a little by the thought of his wife and children, and of the scanty inheritance which he had it in his power to leave them. But still, after more careful meditation on the subject, and incessant prayers to God, by his kindness, he was enabled so happily to master this temptation and anxiety of mind, that at a subsequent period he informs his bosom-friend, Uitenbogaert, in the following words, that his mind had got altogether rid of such cares as these, and steeled against the fear of death:— 'Thus far have I committed myself and my life to the divine mercy, waiting daily till he require it of me, and repay a better with usury; and this I do (I say it fearlessly, that you may rejoice,) with a quiet, tranquil, and unperturbed mind. I pray — and I earnestly entreat, yea, command you, to pray along with me, as I on my part will be ready to do the like for you — that the God of all consolation may preserve this mind with me to the last.' [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Uitenb 17 August et 1 Octob. Script.].

Fortified by this hope and confidence (although his ardour in the investigation of truth, formerly most intense, was now rapidly cooling down), he ceased not to pour out fervent supplications to God for the safety of the community, to exhort the people to prayer and sincere emendation of life, to build up the hearts of the pious by consolatory addresses, both in public and private; and whatever time he might redeem to himself from his ordinary and extraordinary duties, to devote it all, not so much to the acquisition of knowledge, as to the imbuing of his own spirit with solid piety. Nay more, this vast field of pastoral fidelity and piety having presented itself to his view, so strenuously did he discharge the duties devolving upon him, that his name deserves a place among those who are entitled to be held up as examples for the imitation of all ministers of the Christian Church. To the highest and the lowest equally did he render the offices of humanity; nor did he ever allow himself to be deterred by the perils of contagion from acting his part as an indefatigable shepherd of souls [Ex Amicorum relatu.].

It chanced about that time, as he passed along one of the poorer districts of the city, that he heard a certain lowly dwelling resound with the voice of wailing. Immediately on perceiving that the whole of that household had been seized with the plague, and were in torment arising from the most burning thirst, he not only gave money to the neighbours, who were standing by, with which to purchase a draught, but further, when not one of them dared to enter that infected abode of poverty, he himself, heedless of every danger to which by this step he exposed himself and those dear to him, intrepidly walked in, and imparted refreshment, at once for the body and the soul, to every single member of this afflicted family [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Uitenbogaert. 1 Octob. 1602

Script.].

The great aptitude, moreover, by which he succeeded in consoling the minds, and imparting satisfaction to the troubled consciences of the sick, may be exemplified by the following occurrence, which also happened in those days, and appears to us to be not unworthy of record. He was called, first by a woman, and then by a man, both labouring under a severe attack of the pestilence, both professing the Reformed doctrine, and both Christians of blameless and unsullied reputation. She possessed a penetrating judgment, and a knowledge of divine things above the average of her sex. He was skilled in the same to such a degree, as to be judged competent to act the part even of a comforter to others. Neither was known to the other. Both began to be vehemently distressed in spirit because they did not distinctly feel the certainty of the remission of their sins, and the comforting testimony (alloquium) of the Holy Spirit in their own hearts, at that time particularly, at which they deemed all this to be indispensable in the highest degree. She broke out into floods of tears; he inwardly cherished his grief; and both declared 'that they had truly endeavoured, by devout meditation of the sacred page, to stir up these best of gifts if perchance they lay buried, but hitherto without effect.' Arminius, on hearing these things, with a truly sorrowful heart, and touched with a deep commiseration of both, immediately asked, 'what was the reason why they were so grievously distressed on that account.' They replied (so exactly did the views of each correspond), 'that they thought that the certainty of the remission of sins, and the witness (testimonium) of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, constituted that very faith by which a believing man is justified; and consequently that they, being at this time destitute of that certainty and that witness, must also be destitute of faith.'

Here Arminius put the question, 'if they did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, sent into the world by the Father, the true and only Saviour of the world; if they did not know for certain that God the Father had by him alone reconciled the world unto himself, not imputing to them their trespasses; and that this same Jesus had received power from the Father to remit sins, however aggravated, and to give the Spirit of adoption to those who believe on him — which power, too, he is in every respect ready to put forth, yea, and has solemnly promised to put forth, for the salvation of those that believe.'

On their replying that they firmly believed all this, Arminius rejoined, that 'that was the faith which is counted for righteousness; but that the remission of sins is the fruit of that faith, and that it is necessarily followed (if not in time, at least in the order of nature) by a sense of this remission in the hearts of believers, according to the saying of the Apostle, JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE

PEACE WITH GOD, and that we are to judge in the same way respecting the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is imparted to believers, and, wherever imparted, begins to operate in such ways as the Spirit himself knows to be best for the salvation of those to whom he is given.' He then proved, by a multitude of passages, which he produced from the Holy Scriptures, that justifying faith, the remission of sins, and the sense of this remission, are things distinguished in Scripture, and stand connected with each other by the relation of sequence; explaining, moreover, the grounds and reasons why that certainty and comforting testimony (alloquium) of the Spirit, are not always felt by believers in an equal degree. To this the sick persons listened with deep interest; till at length both, sustained by patience, and the most enlarged hope of Divine aid, in tranquillity of soul awaited death — which the man met, two days after, with the utmost fortitude.

From this circumstance, Arminius felt himself in the strongest degree confirmed in his original opinion as to the necessity of accurately distinguishing between things that are most intimately related to each other, lest the confounding of these things should occasion, to some consciences, a measure of anxiety and alarm which can be dispelled in no other way than by a distinction in harmony with the exact nature of things.

CHAPTER V.

ARMINIUS' CALL TO A THEOLOGICAL PROFESSORSHIP IN LEYDEN, AND THE ACTIVE OPPOSITION TO WHICH IT GAVE RISE. A.D. 1602-1603.

As the pestilence already noticed, raged not only in Amsterdam, but also through all the other cities of Holland, it inflicted, in particular, a severe blow on the Academy of Leyden in Holland, by extinguishing, within the space of two months, these illustrious lights of the Church, and most learned men, Lucas Trelcatius, senior, and Francis Junius, the former of whom expired on the 28th of August, and the latter on the 23rd of October. The Academy being deprived of these props, and standing in need of new Atlantes, the wiser class were at a loss to perceive in what way any remedy could be applied to this recent wound; Arminius himself, who was deeply afflicted by an event so calamitous to the Academy, wherever he turned his eyes, could find among foreigners very few indeed fit to undertake such a charge, and sustain, in point of eminence, the position of the dead [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Uitenb. 3. Kal.

Nov.]. From France there beamed scarcely a ray of hope; for the churches of that kingdom were themselves provided with hardly as much as mediocrity in this department of study. If he turned his thoughts to Germany, it was with difficulty he could hit on more than one or two of any note. Pezelius was enfeebled by age; Grynaeus, too, was more than sixty. Paraeus was understood to be too much bound to the Palatinate. Of all the German theologians, however, the one whom Arminius judged best qualified to undertake this province (if indeed, his age, too, might not be an objection), was the distinguished Piscator, as being, in his estimation, a learned, diligent, and clear-headed divine, who, by his published writings besides, had already encircled his name with no small celebrity.

But far other, in regard to this matter, was the mind of the honourable curators of the Academy, who, deeming it not at all needful, at this conjuncture, to turn their attention to foreigners, had fixed their thoughts and their eyes on Arminius and Trelcatius, junior. Of this favourable regard on the part of these distinguished men, and indeed of most of the students, toward Arminius, shortly after the death of Trelcatius, Uitenbogaert came to be informed through the correspondence of friends. He was in the camp before Grave at the time, which he followed in the capacity of chaplain to the valiant Prince Maurice. He was first made cognizant of the fact by the letters of that distinguished youth, Hugh Grotius, and of Anthony Thysius, each of whom, after bearing testimony to the splendid endowments of Arminius, earnestly entreated Uitenbogaert that he would not refuse to interpose his endeavour, at this stage, to persuade Arminius to accept the office, should it be placed within his power [Vid. Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. p. 312.]. Thysius, moreover, in his letter to this same friend on the subject, lauds Arminius to the skies, calling him the light of the Low Countries, and a born academician.

By and by, after Uitenbogaert had returned from the camp to the Hague, the honourable senators, Cornelius Neostadius, Frankius, and E. Hogerbeets, made in his presence, at a certain party, new and honourable mention of the proposed call to Arminius [E vita Uitenbog: cap. v.]. The first of these, and along with him the celebrated John Dousa, Lord of Norderwick, were curators of the Academy, and the rest had cultivated an intimacy in study with him from their early years. Uitenbogaert at first took no part in the conversation; but at length, on being asked his opinion by this noble company of men, he very willingly added his suffrage to theirs. A few days after, Nicolas Zeistius, Syndic of Leyden, intimated, in a letter addressed to the honourable Neostadius, that the eyes of almost all the students were turned to Arminius; and not only so, but that they had resolved to present, at the next meeting of the curators, an earnest petition in favour of his being invited.

On being apprized of all this by a letter from Uitenbogaert, Arminius, so far from grasping at the situation which many were marking out for him, rather revolved in his mind a variety of reasons, from day to day, which were calculated to deter him from the idea of it altogether. For, over and above the ardent attachment of his flock to him (which he felt under the strongest obligation to repay with equal love), so great was the regard which he had conciliated towards himself from the public of Amsterdam, and its leading men, that he could promise himself henceforth to carry about with him a mind exempt from anxious solicitude as to his worldly circumstances, and even an augmentation of his respectable stipend should necessity demand [Vid. Epist.

Arm. ad Uitenb.]. Add to this, that as the city of Amsterdam had the entire right of him, in consideration of having supported him during his sacred studies, it was hardly likely to surrender to the Leydeners its own alumnus, to the serious injury of the Church.

Meanwhile this favour of the curators for Arminius gave great offence to several ministers; and they left no stone unturned by which to divert the minds and thoughts of the former away from him to some foreign candidate. About this time, a certain deputy of the churches made up to the noble Neostadius, and did his utmost in disparagement of the merits of Arminius, declaring, 'that he had discovered nothing whatever in him except that he was an expert logician; but he (the deputy) had yet to learn that he was so great a theologian as to warrant his elevation to an academic chair.'

Much more strongly and sharply, however, was the proposed appointment resisted by J. Kuchlinus, the principal moderator of the Theological College, the uncle too, and at one time the colleague of Arminius [Ex Diario MS.

Uitenb.]. For he began very vehemently to remonstrate with Uitenbogaert on the subject, and to start the doubt whether 'Arminius was not tainted with the Coornhertian heresy;' adding, and stoutly affirming, that 'his father-in-law, Lawrence Real, had a considerable leaning to the same.' Some time after, in presence of the curators of the Academy themselves, after a long preface about Arminius's thirst for novelties, and itch for disputation, he at length broke out in these words:— 'Pray, what shall I, an old man, do? Shall I suffer my pupils to attend the Academy, and hear and carry away with them new doctrines every day? I will not bear it; I will not suffer it; I will rather shut up my college.' Very opportunely, however, in the circumstances, this excited feeling was calmed down by the arrival of John Hauten, a man of very great sagacity, who was at that time secretary to the Academy. By his arguments the old man was brought to a stand, and forthwith began to speak in a more temperate tone.

On the very day, too, on which a meeting of the academy was held on the subject of inviting Arminius, the distinguished Gomarus, after asking permission to speak, and presenting to the honourable curators of the Academy the funeral oration with which he had performed the last honours to Junius, took occasion to intimate to them, that 'Junius, almost at the last hour of his life, implored him to commend, in his name, the Academy and the profession of theology to the special care of the curators. This charge he now implemented; nor could he with a good conscience dissemble his fear that the call of Arminius, for determining on which he understood they were assembled, would in his judgment turn out to the very serious injury of the Academy, in consequence of the heterodox opinions he entertained, and which he had made public both in his discourses on the seventh chapter of the Romans, and in those very serious disputes which he had with Junius on the subject of predestination.' To these things he added, that 'Junius himself had no favourable opinion of Arminius. In Amsterdam he had it in his power to infect one church only; but here he could infect many, not merely in this but also in other lands. In that city there were many who could enter the lists with him, and resist his attempts; but here there were very few. In the Academy there was more freedom of disputation than in the church, from which circumstance undoubtedly the fiercest contentions would arise. Arminius very likely, the more easily to advance himself to the professorship, may hold out the promise of amendment, but no faith was to be attached to his words; and in a matter of such importance it was incumbent on them to act with very great caution, lest by the introduction of such a man, and of novel doctrines, some mischief should accrue to this very distinguished seat of learning.' [Ex Diario MS. Uitenbogardi.].

The noble curators regarded as unduly harsh and sufficiently violent the judgment of so great a theologian respecting this eminent minister, who was held in the highest esteem by those with whom he was connected, and who up to that hour had not given the very smallest indication of an ambitious longing after the office. Gomarus accordingly was asked by these very influential men, 'Whether he really knew Arminius? and whether he had perused the correspondence he had had with Junius?' He candidly replied that 'he only saluted him once, as he descried him at a little distance; and as for the discussion with Junius, he had not indeed read it, but still he had got information respecting it through certain ministers most worthy of credit.' On this, being more straitly questioned as to who the fabricators of those charges were, he at length named Plancius.

But the chief rulers of the Academy, not disposed to attach much weight to this testimony, deemed it of the first importance to inquire more thoroughly into all those accusations by which Arminius was assailed. Wherefore, having first called into their counsel John Oldenbarneveldt, the prime minister of the States of Holland, they deemed it proper to consult Uitenbogaert concerning all these matters, and what was best to be done for the interests of the Academy. He, after a brief pause of deliberation, began forthwith to complain of the injury which Gomarus and Kuchlinus had inflicted on Arminius. Then, after giving an account of the controversy which happened at Amsterdam some considerable time previously, on the occasion of Arminius expounding the seventh chapter of the Romans, and after reading the opening and concluding portions of his discussion with Junius, he showed very plainly that what Gomarus had called 'serious disputes' had rather been the interchange of friendly correspondence. Junius besides, had cultivated a genuine friendship with Arminius; yea, and subsequently to that correspondence he had often prefaced any reference he made to him with expressions of praise.

As Gomarus, however, was pushing this business with so much animosity, and that doubtless at the instigation of others whose authority was very influential in sacred matters, it appeared to him to be advisable that the call should be decided in favour of another, rather than of Arminius. As to the willingness of Arminius to undertake this professorship, it was in the highest degree doubtful; and much more uncertain was it besides, whether, in the event of his assenting to the call, the people of Amsterdam would grant him a dismission. He looked upon this movement as one full of hazard and difficulty; and so much the more difficult as he had heard Gomarus was actuated by a very strong prejudice against Arminius, and bent all his energies to this: that whatever the latter might advance in defence of his reputation and his faith, he would at once proceed to invalidate and subvert. He (Uitenbogaert) was not willing to take upon himself a business of such magnitude, or that this cause should be determined by his judgment alone. So far from this, although, according to the dictate of conscience, he had advanced what made for the commendation of Arminius, and was fully confident that Arminius would never do aught that was unworthy of himself or the Academy, he nevertheless committed this whole affair to the consideration and decision of the honourable curators. If, however, they adhered to their purpose to invite this theologian, he thought it would be in the highest degree advisable that Arminius should be made aware of all the things which had been said and done against him, in order that after hearing his reply they might be the better able to consult for their own concerns, and for the welfare of the Academy.

[Ex Diario Uitenb. MS.—Vid. et Vitam Uitenb. Belg. Idiom, ab ipso conscript, cap. v.]. Thus spake Uitenbogaert in the presence of the curators. On the same day he declared to the most noble Oldenbarneveldt, a man who held the place of the highest dignity in the Republic of Holland, that 'Arminius, yea even a hundred Arminiuses, did not bulk so largely in his estimation that, for the sake of promoting him, he could be willing to have the Church and the Academy disturbed.'

Some time after, by order of the curators, he faithfully divulged everything, as far as matters had gone, to Arminius, who had been summoned by letter to Haarlem; and he earnestly besought him, seeing the matter concerned not him only, but also the entire Church besides, that he would not hesitate to declare his own mind on the subject candidly, freely, and without any reserve

[Ex Diario MS. Uitentog.]. On receiving this information, which astonished him mightily, Arminius related the particulars of all the controversies which had ever been stirred against him on the ground of doctrine, and what plan he had invariably adopted in order to get them allayed. From this the conversation passed to the subject of the professorship, and of the very high esteem in which he was held by the rulers of the academy. By and by, also, according to the charge devolved upon him by these rulers, Uitenbogaert proceeded to ask him what might be his own mind and judgment as to undertaking the office.

Arminius replied, that 'many reasons presented themselves on the ground of which he could prefer to remain at Amsterdam. He owned, indeed, that he was rather prone to an academic mode of expressing himself, nor was he altogether destitute of freedom in composition and in promoting the public good by his pen; but still he was wanting in many endowments of mind and genius that were necessary to the proper discharge of this function. Moreover, as he had by no means the right, he would decide nothing whatever, either on the one side or on the other, till the church and civil authorities of Amsterdam had granted him full liberty of choice. This done, he would consider what might be for the advantage of the Academy, as well as for his own. At all events he would never consent to give his services to the noble curators until he had first obtained a friendly conference with the distinguished Gomarus, and disabused his mind of all the doubts which he had conceived respecting him. He was aware how much ought to be sacrificed for the peace of the academy, and how imperatively necessary it was to apply the promptest remedy possible to the ecclesiastical dissensions so much to be deplored, rather than to contribute fresh material for their increase. Never for the sake of any dogma would he furnish occasion, even the least, to violate the peace of the Church; and in this same mind he put a fair and charitable construction on everything which the learned Gomarus had done, at the instigation, doubtless, of others, rather than of his own accord.'

This reply Uitenbogaert reported to the honourable curators of the Academy.

After maturely considering and weighing the fact that divines of the Reformed Church had not always cherished the same opinion on the subject of Predestination, and that no synod of the Primitive Church had ever determined anything respecting it — yea, further, that the celebrated J.

Holmann had stoutly defended, in the Leyden Academy, the same opinion which Hemmingius had maintained on that question — the curators judged that there was no call for further deliberation on the subject of inviting Arminius. On the contrary, they instantly decided on doing so; and in order to obtain their wish, C. Neostadius and N. Zeistius, men of great influence, undertook a journey to Amsterdam, which, however, failed of its end; for the noble rulers of this city (on the 19th November) not only decided that they couldnot dispense with his services, but would not permit them to treat with the ecclesiastical court on the matter.

On learning this the deputies of the churches [These were functionaries appointed by the Dutch Synods (resembling the Commission of the General Assembly in Scotland), on whom devolved a certain current and ill-defined care of the cburches, and who figare much in the ecclesiastic embroilments of that period. They were often officious; and hence Grotius calls them 'Ruling Masters.'—TR.] exerted themselves to the utmost to interpose delay, and even obstruction, in the way of this call. At an extraordinary meeting accordingly, held at the Hague, they judged it expedient to invite certain pastors to that place — Uitenbogaert being summoned among the rest. After prayer, the president of this conference, Arnold Cornelis, immediately submitted whether it would not be for the interest of the Church seriously and gravely to warn the noble Oldenbarneveldt, and the curators of the Academy as well, of the dangers which impended over the Church and the Academy, in the event of calling a man so deeply suspected of erroneous opinions; and to entreat them rather to think of calling some other who might be fit to undertake the office, and at the same time be clear of suspicion of this kind.

Uitenbogaert being asked among the first to express his mind as to this counsel, declared that he would he no party to any such thing [Ex Diario MS.

Uitenb. Vid et Uitenb. Vitam ab ipso conscript. vernaculo idom. cap. v.]. After many preliminary remarks as to the danger into which those who urged such a decision would precipitate themselves in the event of not being able to prove the charges preferred against Arminius, he proceeded to explain more at length all that he himself knew of the matter, and showed that the opposition to the clergyman in question was grounded on suspicions rather than on reasons.

On this, after here repeating ad nauseam the allegation as to his very serious disputes with Junius, and the long-settled affair about the interpretation of the seventh chapter of Romans, the president of the conference openly declared, that 'Arminius was no theologian, but a young man, destitute of experience and prone to quarrels and petty disputations.' In opposition to this, Uitenbogaert rejoined, that 'this same Arminius sustained the character of a distinguished divine, and to how great an extent he was skilled in sacred things could not be altogether unknown to his present accuser, inasmuch as when on a previous occasion Arminius requested a friendly conference with him on the subject of religion, he heartily shrank from it. The frivolous objections as to his youth were also applicable to Gomarus himself; preeminently so, at all events, to Trelcatius, junior, concerning both of whom, however, in this connexion, there was a profound silence. Arminius was of full age, and possessed of a judgment thoroughly cultivated and matured. The professorial function was theoretical rather than practical, and experience was not required in universities to the same extent as in churches; still it was not to be thought that he could be devoid of experience, who had for so many years, and with so much applause, sustained the charge of by far the most influential of the churches. Besides, that he was party to discussions occasionally about sacred things was proof not of a contentious, but of a subtle mind, and gave indication that he was born for academic rather than for pastoral functions.'

On this, one objected, that 'still Arminius differed if not in substantials, at least in accidentals — (here and elsewhere in narrating the discussions of divines, we must be allowed to speak in theological rather than in chaste and classical Latin [This, it is scarcely needful to remark, is an apology interposed by our author, for deviating occasionally from his excellent Latinity into unavoidable scholasticisms.—TR.]) — and while this perchance might be connived at in the Church, in the Academy it certainly could not be borne with.' Uitenbogaert rejoined, that 'the liberty of plying controversies which did not subvert the foundations of the faith, ought by no means to be banished from academic institutions. Never had these, any more than the churches, been so well constituted but that at all times some differences, and these occasionally very serious, had existed in reference to sacred things, and yet the peace of the Church had been preserved inviolate; yea, between that very divine, Junius, and his colleague, Sohnius, at Heidelberg, and between Gomarus and Junius at Leyden-in-Holland, there had not, on all points, been a perfect agreement.

The same principle applied to the case in hand. Arminius was desirous of peace, nor was any strife to be apprehended from him, although in some things he might differ from others in opinion.'

After he had thus spoken, some member of the conference vociferated, that

'everything, even what seemed safe things, furnished matter for just suspicion;' to which the very eloquent pastor of the church in the Hague further and spiritedly replied, that 'a statement of this description was diametrically opposed to Christian charity; and that it was much rather to be desired that all the ministers of the Church would more frequently recall to memory that saying of Paul, Charity thinketh no evil.' After he had uttered these words, and followed up his remarks with a very grave admonition that the brethren would act circumspectly throughout this business, and attempt nothing of which they might subsequently repent, Uitenbogaert asked leave of departure, and withdrew.

But they, not deeming it of any consequence to attend to this warning, straightway divulged the same doubts respecting Arminius, which they had brought out in that conference, to the Grand Pensionary of the States of Holland, as well as the curators of the Academy, commending the Academy to their care, and adding the request that they would see to it that the peace of the institution be not disturbed. They replied in general terms, that 'they would take care of that matter.' [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.].

But the curators, suspecting on good grounds that certain parties were pushing this business with far too great animosity, and that under it there lurked much envy against Arminius — nay, further, that if by this pretext of heterodoxy he should be driven from the professorship, his public usefulness also would be very apt to be sacrificed in that church to the ministry of which he had devoted himself — were of opinion that it was their duty still to prosecute the call. More than that, Arminius having taken a journey to the Hague at this conjuncture (January 21, 1603), to despatch some ecclesiastical business in name of the Amsterdam Classis, they called him into their presence, informed him of their determination, and begged that he would not scruple to give them the hope and pledge that he would accept the office of professor; and that they would take steps, and strive with all their weight, to induce the magistrates and church of Amsterdam to give in like manner their consent to the arrangement. This, however, Arminius modestly declined, giving the same reply that he had previously given to Uitenbogaert, and to the other delegates of the academic council.

Shortly after, having returned home, and obtained an opportunity of holding a familiar interview with that minister of Delft (Arnold Cornelis) who had presided at the above-mentioned conference held at the Hague, and who was spending some days in Amsterdam, he began (Jan. 27) to deal with him freely

— partly complaining of the injurious judgment of certain individuals, and partly clearing and defending himself. He added, that 'that method of acting did not appear to him to be sufficiently Christian, and that another ought to be adopted of a more positive sort, and more in accordance with Christian candour.' [Ex Epist. Arm. inedita Script. ad Uitenb. 28 Jan. 1603.]. Still further, referring to that conference, and to the steps which, thus far, the deputies of the churches had taken against him, Arminius observed: [Namely to Uitenbogaert, in the letter referred to in the preceding note, giving an account of his interview with Cornelis the day before, and containing the expressions quoted in the previous sentence.—TR.] —'It seems evident to me, that all their deliberations and acts have proceeded from a certain groundless fear, induced by the calumnious reports respecting me of certain individuals whom I have declared myself easily able to confute with the actual truth, if opportunity and place were only granted me for defending myself.'

But a suspicion once entertained of the heterodoxy of Arminius had fixed its roots too deeply in the minds of those entrusted with the welfare of the churches, (viz., the deputies) to allow themselves to be deterred from their undertaking by any arguments of his. Wherefore, taking into consideration the proceedings up to that point of the curators of the Academy, these ecclesiastical deputies set out for the Hague towards the end of February; and in the presence of Oldenbarneveldt renewed the same complaint that they had formerly lodged as to the dangers to which the Academy would be exposed by this call of Arminius, following it up with the request that he would not refuse to exert his influence with these same curators in order to impede its progress. The grounds on which they contended were the same as before, with the addition of this other, by the colleague of Arminius, Werner Helmichius, namely, that only very lately Arminius had taught in public that

'God had not yet sent a bill of divorcement to the Church of Rome.' [Vide Vitam Uitenb. cap. v. Trigland. Hist. Eccles.]. These words Arminius had used in the course of expounding the second chapter of Revelation, and thence some of his enemies had snatched a handle for the suspicion that he had an undue leaning towards that very impure Church, and had undertaken its defence.

But it escaped Helmichius, and even the most honourable the Grand Pensionary of Holland, to whom at first sight such a saying appeared absurd, that F. Junius, besides often and openly maintaining the same opinion in his public prelections and disputations, had given that exposition almost in the self-same words, in a certain excellent treatise On the Church. On this account, Uitenbogaert, the moment he was informed of the accusation referred to, handed in that treatise to this most eminent man for his perusal; and added that many besides Junius, and these too of no mean name among Reformed divines, had expressly maintained the same thing, not with the view of patronising that meretricious Church, but rather to set forth the benignity of the supreme and ever-blessed God, who, inasmuch as certain traces of Christianity still remained in that Church, was even yet urging it to repentance.

This act of Helmichius, moreover, was regarded by the patrons of Arminius as anything but handsome; for they deemed it most iniquitous that this eminent clergyman had not only ventured, in the presence of a man of such great authority, to defame an absent colleague, and that too without ever having communicated with him on the matter, but also that he should demand of that same high personage to keep secret evinced that he by no means acquiesced in the opinion of the great Calvin on Predestination, and that this circumstance was fraught with imminent danger to the Academy. Uitenbogaert owned that that opinion laboured under serious difficulties which he himself was not able to extenuate or remove; but from this there was no ground to apprehend dissension, provided Arminius, while temperately maintaining a milder view of that question, accepted in a fair and liberal spirit the modest defence which Gomarus and others might put forth for their opinion. Here Helmichius affirmed that the doctrine of an absolute decree of Reprobation had been received by the Reformed Church; and that those who were of a different sentiment might be tolerated in the Church, provided they imposed silence on themselves and abstained from running that doctrine down. Uitenbogaert replied, that he for his part was one who could not assent to that opinion, which, in fact, ought by no means to be attributed to the entire Church of the Reformed, but only to certain particular divines. Nay it was those rather who rejected that horrible decree (as Calvin himself calls it, in express terms, when treating of Reprobation) that ought to be asked to bear patiently with its patrons and defenders. Further, on Helmichius asserting somewhat warmly that there were certain parties in Amsterdam who were prepared to establish against Arminius more charges still, and of greater weight, should this academic invitation be further pressed, Uitenbogaert rejoined, that

'insinuations of this kind were made in manifest contravention of the law of charity, yea, and of truth. He perceived that a tyranny altogether new, and which he would by no means submit to, had been introduced into the Reformed Church. Individuals there were who spoke of that Church none otherwise than if it were exempt from all liability to error, and stood in need of no further reform. Hence no one dissenting, even in how trivial soever a degree, was to be tolerated: and the blot of heresy was to be forthwith daubed upon those who owned as much as a slight difference, or even doubt, in respect to any article of faith and doctrine. As an effusion from this bitter fountain, a certain minister had ventured to call Arminius a heretic. In this way all liberty of friendly conference on points of Christian doctrine was precluded; and from this it was to be feared still greater troubles would arise.'

This conversation was scarcely ended when the celebrated Gomarus also came to the Hague, and had a lengthened interview with Uitenbogaert on the same affair. On this occasion Gomarus, with a mind thoroughly excited (as far as it might be allowed to conjecture from his countenance), began to rate him for his commendation of Arminius, whom he styled a man of impure doctrine

— adding that he (Uitenbogaert) had rashly mixed himself up with academic affairs. This commendatory act Uitenbogaert vindicated on a multitude of grounds, and strove with all his might to wipe away the injurious aspersions from his absent friend; when immediately Gomarus, producing the reply of Armiuius to the communication of Junius (which a few days previously, he stated, had been handed to him by Casimir, the son of Francis Junius), declared that he would prove directly that Arminius maintained not only impure, but even impious doctrine [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.]. To substantiate this allegation he instantly quoted, from the very autograph of Arminius, the following statement: that 'by no divine decree is the human will determined either to the one side or the other' — adding, 'That is an impious sentiment!'

To this Uitenbogaert replied, that 'it was not impious to say that God did not determine those things which he himself was unwilling to determine. Arminius would render a just reason for that saying. Nay more, the very celebrated Junius had said nearly the same thing in his treatise "On the first Sin of Adam." '

Quitting this subject, Gomarus turned the conversation into another channel, alleging that the opinion of Arminius on the seventh chapter of Romans was manifestly at variance with the doctrine of the churches. Here Uitenbogaert put the question, on which article it was of the Confession and Catechism that the above-named interpretation impinged? Gomarus replied, that the doctrine of the churches was to be determined not only by these received formularies, but to a very great extent from the consent of the pastors. But to this Uitenbogaert rejoined, that a saying of this description savoured of Popery; and that he knew no other consent of the churches in doctrine but that which is contained in the express words of the Confession.

On this, Gomarus made reference to the subject of Predestination, and acknowledged that that decree might be modestly discussed, and Arminius borne with, provided he would deport himself with moderation. Then Uitenbogaert at length seizing this opportunity, gravely and courteously admonished this divine 'not to give way to his own feelings more than was meet, and allow himself to be carried away by the perverse judgments of others respecting Arminius;' adding, 'that Arminius never would undertake this office without, in the first instance, holding a friendly conference with him in reference to these and other difficulties. Nothing did Arminius desire more than to cultivate a fraternal friendship with him; and his resolution was rather to keep aloof from that office for ever than furnish occasion, even the least, for ecclesiastial strifes. Of strifes there were enough everywhere. Peace ought to be studied; nor did he doubt but that Arminius would give him the most ample satisfaction.' On this Gomarus calmly and candidly rejoined, 'that this was what he preeminently desired; that then Arminius would be to him a most acceptable colleague; and that he would tolerate all things which could be borne with consistently with the maintenance of peace and with integrity of conscience.'

CHAPTER VI.

FURTHER PROSECUTION AND SUCCESSFUL ISSUE OF ARMINIUS'

CALL TO THE PROFESSORSHIP. A.D. 1603.

Arminius meanwhile, not unaware of those things which were in agitation against him, strove to bend all his plans to this one aim, that of finding out a way in which he might defend himself against the criminations of his adversaries, and disarm them of their power. In particular, feeling keenly that he had been covered with stigmas in the hearing of Barneveldt, it appeared to him in the highest degree desirable that he should maintain the stainlessness of his reputation in the presence of that most exalted man; and that before presenting himself at the Hague he should intimate his purpose to the honourable magistrates, and in addition to them, to Helmichius himself, and others who had branded so black a stigma on his name.

He was prevented, however, from carrying into effect this purpose and journey by the adverse state of his health, having been seized with a catarrh contracted by cold, which violently affected his brain and adjacent parts. He informed Uitenbogaert of his circumstances, and, moreover, disclosed to him the state of his mind and his wish, in the following words [Epist. Eccles. Ep.

58, pag. 109, 110.]:— 'Would that this might be obtained from the most noble Barneveldt, namely, that they should receive orders to proceed against me before him, I being present. This verily I aim at and desire far more ardently than that which they think I desire — I mean the theological professorship. But I thoroughly persuade myself (and thus, surely, it ought to turn out) that those good men will not obtain credit with considerate persons, especially as he who is aimed at stands forth for his lawful defence, and is an elder against whom no one has a right to take up an accusation except under two or three witnesses. My opinion, therefore, is, that that journey is not so urgently necessary at this time in consequence of the departure already of a large proportion of the deputies, to whom Helmichius might appeal were I to institute proceedings with him. Meanwhile there remains with me the full right of originating an action at law against hun, and also against the rest who are associated with him. In regard to this, I shall consider, from your advice and that of others, what to do. If, however, you deem it needful that I should open my mind to you in reply to a few queries, you may transmit them in writing, and I will answer you with the utmost plainness and sincerity; for I am unwilling either to commit or to omit anything that might tend either to promote or to impede my call; inasmuch as I have resolved to commit myself wholly to the will of God, that I may be able to maintain a good conscience whatever may be the issue of the affair. In the meantime, I would have you to be of good cheer, and moderate your grief, for well I know how needful is this request. The Lord God will provide and grant that success which he knows will be most conducive to his own glory and the edification of the Church —

yea more, and to the salvation of me and mine. On Him I cast all my care: He will bring forth my righteousness as the light, and my judgment as the noon-day.'

During all this time, the honourable curators of the Academy, promising themselves better things of Arminius than rumour held out, had resolved to leave nothing untried by which they might gain Arminius and their wish. Nay, communicating their counsels to the illustrious Prince Maurice, they strenuously besought him to associate with them some one to act in his name, for the furtherance of this business with the people of Amsterdam. To this petition, the Prince gave his gracious assent; and forthwith summoning Uitenbogaert into his presence (on the 13th March), he entreated him, in kindly terms that he would not scruple to undertake this province, as being in great measure an ecclesiastical one — and pledged his faith to furnish him with credentials. Armed with these, he at length, along with the honourable J.

Dousa, and N. Zeistius, Syndic of Leyden, set out for Amsterdam on the first day of April; being followed, a little after, by the honourable Neostadius and Nicolas Cromhout, the chief senator of the supreme court: this last the curators had called to their assistance, his influence being very powerful with the Senate of Amsterdam. To smooth for themselves an easier path to the attainment of their end, they judged it expedient to hold interviews, in the first instance, with several of the magistrates, and ministers of the Church. Having on the 5th April, accordingly, obtained public audience of the honourable magistrates, they explained, at length, their reasons for the journey they had undertaken, — Cromhout maintaining the cause of the curators, and Uitenbogaert prosecuting the orders of the Prince [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.].

They pressed their petition to obtain Arminius, on a variety of grounds; the rulers, on the other hand, set forth the merits of their pastor, and his useful and necessary services in refuting the opinions of different parties on points connected with religion; and declared that they could not dispense with the ministry of so great a man. These, and other arguments of the kind, the curators bent in their own favour, and vigorously retorted; at length the rulers replied that they would deliberate further on the matter, and gave permission, besides, to treat with the ecclesiastical court respecting it.

At a meeting, accordingly, convened on the 8th April, the delegates of the Academy submitted to the presbytery the same reasons for their proposal which they had advanced in presence of the magistrates; in addition to which, the better to promote their object, they held out the hope, and gave the pledge that should the leading men of the church of Amsterdam resolve to substitute in the place of Arminius, after his dismission, another eminent pastor, yea, and even to renew their call to Baselius, the very eloquent minister of the church at Bergen-op-Zoom, from whom they had previously met with a repulse, the illustrious States and the Prince himself, would exert themselves to the utmost for the realisation of their wish. The presbytery shortly after, having previously spent some time in deliberation, came to the decision (on the llth April) to intimate, through certain delegates to the honourable magistrates, that 'Arminius more than others was bound to his own church, and that they would decidedly prefer that he should be retained.' [Ex Actis Synod. Eccles. Amstel.—Vid. Trigland. Hist. p. 286.].

This decision of the ecclesiastical court being, in the opinion of the rulers, expressed in somewhat dubious and too general terms, they demanded of them a more extended counsel and resolution in respect to the business in question [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.], on which the presbytery decreed to treat, through the same delegates, with Arminius himself. These delegates, accordingly, setting on him with expressions of caressing blandishment, ardently besought him that he would suffer himself to be induced to devote his services and fulfil his pledge henceforward to this church. Arminius replied, that 'formerly, indeed, he had been less inclined to undertake this professorial office; but now, as matters stood, he felt himself rather impelled to undertake it, and ask his dismission. He had his own reasons for thinking that were his dismission refused, it would no longer be in his power to subserve the interests of the Church in Amsterdam. But if, perchance, the expense originally laid out in enabling him to prosecute his studies should be alleged as an objection to his obtaining a dismission, he would rather make restitution to them than that this call should be set aside. He was moreover prepared, in presence of the delegates of the Synod and of the Church, to hold a conference with the eminent Gomarus.' [Ex Actis Presb. Amstelod. citatis a Trigland. p. 286.].

On learning this, the magistrates expressed no small solicitude and fear in reference to this business, lest Arminius should happen to suffer in his health from taking the refusal of his dismission too deeply to heart, and thus become useless alike to the Church and to the Academy, and many groundless rumours be thereby created; on which grounds they urgently demanded of the ecclesiastical court a further deliberation on the matter. But the presbytery here began to weave occasions of delay, and to differ somewhat among themselves—some charging Arminius with bad doctrine, while others defended him. Wherefore, having again requested an audience, on the 13th day of April, at the close of the evening service, the above-named delegates of the Academy presented themselves before this ecclesiastical assembly.

They tried in every variety of way to impel the presbytery to dismiss Arminius, and to urge them to give a full deliverance. They further declared, through Uitenbogaert, who acted as their mouth, that 'as they perceived that the tergiversation of this meeting was grounded on the wrong suspicions of some respecting Arminius, they would abandon this call on the spot if the ecclesiastical court would, in express terms, accuse him of bad doctrine. The care of the Academy had been committed to them, and its welfare lay much too near their heart to allow them to consent to have any connexion with a divine of unsound views. But if, nevertheless, any doubt should yet cling to the minds of some, they pledged their faith that Arminius should not be installed into this academic function before he had given full satisfaction to his future colleague, the distinguished Gomarus.' [Vita Uitenb. Belgice ab ipso conseripta, cap. vi.].

After hearing this, and holding some further consultation on the matter, the presbytery at last gave their consent to the dismission requested [Ex Actis Presbyt Amstelod.—Vid. Trigland. Hist. Eccles.], the following stipulation being made:— 'First, Arminius shall not leave Amsterdam to enter on this new function until the church of this city be provided with another pastor, learned and pious, and if practicable, Baselius; secondly, after holding a conference with Gomarus on certain points of Christian doctrine, before the delegates of the churches, he shall wipe away all suspicion of heterodoxy by a candid explanation of his own opinion; and also, thirdly, should he happen at any time spontaneously to make up his mind to resign the office of professor, or should necessity urgently demand his services for the church in Amsterdam, he shall be at liberty to resume the pastoral function.' This ecclesiastical decision was laid before the honourable magistrates on the following day (the 15th April), who, after first convening and taking into their counsel the illustrious senate of the city, also gave their assent. Informed immediately of this result, the curators of the Academy expressed their thanks; and having obtained, a little after, the consent of Arminius himself, they set out on their journey homeward with great delight.

On all these circumstances connected with the call of Arminius to the professorship we have judged it proper to enter more minutely into detail, both because of the great light thrown on our path by the manuscript journals of Uitenbogaert, who besides being present as an eye and ear witness, was himself a prime actor in the business; and also because some writers of the present age, in recounting this matter, have, partly in gross ignorance of the things transacted, and partly in bad faith, advanced much on the subject that transcends very far indeed the boundaries of truth. On this account particularly, James Triglandius, as compared with others, is in the highest degree blameworthy, and deserves to have branded on him a special mark of condemnation [Vid. Trigland. Hist. Ecclesiast. pag. 287.]. If his testimony be entitled to credit respecting the canvassing which Arminius is alleged to have systematically, and with downright servility, prosecuted among his colleagues in order to obtain his dismission, and indeed respecting the entire course of his life, to which he makes reference in the same place, then certainly Arminius has done many things which must be pronounced utterly unworthy of an honourable and dignified teacher of the Church. But, in truth, how sorrily the author named fulfils the duties, in this case, of an ingenuous historian, may be inferred from the fact, that the most of those things which tend in the highest degree to stir bad feeling against Arminius, and which, in giving an account of his call to the professorship, he pretends to have himself taken from the very acts of the Amsterdam presbytery, are in fact by no means to be found in those acts which this ecclesiastical court drew up in the course of that year; unless, perchance, we must regard as authentic acts a certain rough and garbled account of the transactions which, after a long interval of time (about the year 1617) [Vid. G. Brantii Parentis mei F. M. Apolog. pro Hist.

Reform. contra J. Rulaeum Belgice conscript.], and amid the most fervent heat of the controversies respecting predestination, was drawn up in favour of that very bitter antagonist of the Remonstrants, Adrian Smout, for the most part by P. Plancius — the indefatigable calumniator of Arminius even after his death — who took care to get it inserted among the acts of the Amsterdam Presbytery. That Triglandius really trod in the footsteps of this slanderer, and drew those things which concern the life and call of Arminius from this document of Plancius, was disclosed by John Eulasus, a respectable minister at Amsterdam not so long ago, who, pressed by the native force of truth, was constrained to confess the fact in the same little work [Ex Lib. J. Rulaei cui titulus G. Brantii audax simulatio Belg. idiom. script.] in which he sets himself, with sufficient acerbity, to assail Arminius, and my father of happy memory, the defender of Arminius.

Of little avail, in like manner, to the prejudice of Arminius, are the testimonies cited by this same Triglandius, and appended to the narration drawn up by Plancius, of the following ministers, Hallius, Ursinus, and Lemaire, respecting the protestations of Arminius, and the pledge that he gave them, that 'he would advance nothing whatever in the Leyden Academy prejudicial to the peace of the Church; nay, that he would keep to himself his private opinions, and such as were repugnant to the consent of the Reformed Churches, until the meeting of the next National Synod.' For, besides that little weight is to be attached to these private declarations— which, moreover, were drawn up in behalf of the zealot whom we have named above (Smout), and that seven years and more after Arminius's death — Arminius constantly declared what is ascribed to him in these testimonies, and reserved a full explanation of his opinion on the subject of predestination to a general council of the churches; until at length, in consequence of the growing strifes 'stirred by many in relation to this question, he, by order of his superiors, and in the very assembly of the States, disclosed all the sentiments and all the scruples of his mind. Whether and how far by this deed he is to be held guilty of violated faith, and rightly and justly to be regarded as the leader and instigator in rending the peace of the Church, the following line of narrative will yet more clearly show.

The following words which he wrote to Uitenbogaert, shortly after he obtained his dismission, clearly indicate with what modesty of mind, and aversion from every appearance of canvassing, the subject of our memoir bore himself in this delicate conjuncture:— 'My beloved friend, there is one thing which vehemently distresses me. How shall I be able to satisfy such a great expectation? How shall I be able to prove myself to be in some measure worthy of having so mighty a movement set agoing on my account? But I console myself with this consideration alone, that I have not courted the professorship, and that the curators were warned of those things which have happened before they had determined anything on the subject of my call.' [Ex Arm. Epist. ad Uitenb. 26 Ap. 1603.].

Meanwhile, Arminius by no means dreaded the appointed conference with Gomarus, but awaited its issue with a perfectly tranquil mind. Nay, when his familiar friends had various consultations among themselves as to the plan of the conference about to be held, and some were desirous of having it arranged through the honourable curators that this conference should be held privately with Gomarus rather than in the presence of the deputies of the churches, so far was he from any inclination to lend an ear to this advice, and elude the condition stipulated by the brethren in Amsterdam, that he gave vent to his feelings in the following words:— 'And to what suspicions shall I then be exposed! For I shall be regarded as not merely suspected of heresy, but also, and thus far distrustful of my own cause, that I dare not to enter on the conference in the presence of the deputies of the Synod. I would rather confer with the entire Synod, and with the two Synods (of North and South Holland) than give occasion, even the least, for judging otherwise of me than that, cultivating a good conscience in all things, I do not dread the most prolix conference, yea not even the most rigid examination.'

The sixth day of May was accordingly announced for this conference to be held, in terms of the stipulated condition; and it took place at the Hague, in the house of the noble Lord of Norderwick, in the presence not only of Arnold Cornells, and Werner Helmichius, in name of the churches of North and South Holland, but also of these most influential and learned men, Nicolas Cromhout, Rumboldt Hogerbeets, and J. Uitenbogaert, whom the honourable curators of the Academy had earnestly invited to grace the occasion. First of all Gomarus marvelled, and took it amiss, that he saw no delegate present from the Church in Amsterdam, notwithstanding that the noble curators, in a most courteous letter delivered to the ecclesiastical court of that city, had besought that some one in their name should be present at the conference now to be held. For this divine thought it not quite proper that those should be absent on whose account principally he himself had come hither: affirming, moreover, that he was 'but little acquainted with the discourses and opinions of Arminius; that the greater part of the doubts respecting him had been stirred by the brethren in Amsterdam; and that it was their part, in consequence, to instruct and advise him in reference to the mode and 'subject matter of this conference.' At length, after a few preliminary explanations by the honourable curators, of the leading object of the meeting, the learned divine declared, that 'although he would rather that this province had not been committed to him, he yet reckoned it a debt which he owed to the cause of truth to undertake its defence, agreeably to the request of brethren, as far as circumstances might demand.'

Arminius, on the other hand, exprassed the utmost delight that he saw presented to him this most excellent and long-wished for opportunity of vindicating the innocence of his good name. An agreement was forthwith made as to the order and heads of the subjects to be considered; when Arminius, first of all, judged it right that the principle ought to be borne in mind, that 'not every difference concerning religion respected the essentials of faith, and that those who dissented in certain points which did not affect fundamentals, were entitled to forbearance.' In corroboration of this claim he instantly cited a certain celebrated saying of St Augustine; and was proceeding to adduce more opinions to the same effect, from ancient as well as recent divines, when Gomarus objected, declaring it to be superfluous, and that 'the one point to be settled was, whether those questions of which they were about to treat ought, or ought not, to be regarded as essentials.' [Ex Diario M.S. Uitenb.]. He maintained the affirmative; Arminius maintained the negative, and proceeded forthwith to establish the truth of his position.

But lest they should come to too close quarters, Gomarus immediately proceeded to attack the opinion of Arminius on the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans, declaring and maintaining that it ran counter to the Palatine Catechism, and adducing certain passages from that document —

yea, and pressing into his service even its marginal notes. Arminius, on the other hand, refuted the arguments of his opponent, and boldly vindicated, against his exceptions, his own interpretation; maintaining, moreover, that that expression of the Catechism which was urged against him, viz., 'unless we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit [Vid. Quaest Catecli. Palat.],' ought to be explained of regeneration in its initial stage. He further testified 'that he utterly rejected and detested the tenets on this point propounded by the Pelagians, and approved of those which Augustine and other divines of the Primitive Church had maintained in opposition to Pelagius and his followers; that he entirely assented to the Catechism; that he by no means explained that passage from Paul, of the man considered as utterly irregenerate; that his own opinion on this point was at the furthest possible remove from that of Prosper Dysidaeus (Faustus Socinus); and that he had never furnished just cause for such great commotions as had formerly been excited in relation to this subject.'

On hearing this defence, and taking into account that Arminius disclaimed many of the tenets imputed to him, and thought far otherwise on that controversy than from the report of others he had been given to understand, Gomarus ingenuously declared 'that he had hitherto supposed that Arminius maintained the opinion of Prosper Dysidaeus, but he now perceived that on that question he was otherwise minded; and therefore, as he (Gomarus) had not apprehended with sufficient clearness the full mind of Arminius on the matter, he begged that he would not think it too much to divulge his own opinions on the subject a little more fully and accurately.' At this request, however, that honourable man, and curator of the university, Neostadius, expressed his astonishment; insisting that those at whose request the distinguished Gomarus had undertaken his present task ought to have instructed him better respecting the opinion of Arminius; and that it belonged to him and to them, and not to Arminius, who sustained the character of the party accused, to produce those things which went to inculpate him. Arminius took the same ground, and added that 'he would not say a word till Gomarus himself, and the other deputies of the churches, should have cleared him of the calumnies with which he had been aspersed.' The honourable curators having lent their sanction to this declaration, Gomarus at length intimated

'that, since Arminius repudiated Pelagianism, he was satisfied; and that his interpretation (of Romans vii.), such as it was, could be tolerated.' The deputies of the churches made a declaration to the same effect; immediately after which, Arminius, producing a copy of the New Testament, which he always bore about with him, forthwith read the whole of that seventh chapter of Romans, from the beginning to the end, and expounded it so felicitously, that no one, not even Gomarus himself, hazarded a word in opposition — with the exception of Arnold Cornelis, who started one objection, on the solution of which he became instantly mute. On hearing this, Neostadius, turning to the deputies of the churches, exclaimed, 'Is this, then, that controversy, so often agitated, which has for many years past stirred such mighty contention and clamour? And so we have in a brief space of time allayed a strife to terminate which even many years have not sufficed the people of Amsterdam!' [Ex tractatu quodam Bertii, Belgice conscript.].

That primary question being accordingly dismissed, they proceeded to treat, though only in a cursory way, of the Church of Rome; also of the determination of the human will by the Divine decree; and other kindred articles respecting which certain persons had insinuated that the sentiments of Arminius differed in some degree from those of the Reformed. But to the several charges Arminius learnedly and solidly replied; and so happily explained and defended his own opinion on these and other points, that the distinguished Gomarus and the other deputies of the churches did not deem it worth their while to contend further about them [Diario MS. Uitenb.]. And more, to rid their minds utterly of all their doubts, he, in the same confidence of spirit with which he had entered on this conference, drew from his pocket, and presented to the inspection of each, his own 'Dissertation on the, proper sense of the Seventh Chapter of the Romans,' which some time previously he had most learnedly written out in an expanded form. As no one, however, lifted this manuscript from the table, or said anything whatever in reply to his interrogation, 'If the brethren had aught further to require of him?' the conference terminated, with so happy an issue, that all, without exception, gave him the right hand of fraternal love; and conducted him, in a body, to an entertainment which, by order of the illustrious curators of the Academy, had been provided for them in the Castile Inn (as it was called), at the Hague. On this occasion, too, these curators testified 'that the suspicions stirred against Arminius had not been substantiated, nor was there just cause why any one should judge unfavourably respecting him; for in the exercise of the liberty granted him of prophesying (of discussing sacred things) in the church, he had taught nothing that was inimical to the Christian religion.' [Ex Bertii Orat.

Funeb.].

The obstacles that obstructed his path to the professorship having been thus happily removed, some, whose counsel and authority he highly valued, urged him to consent to his being invested with the title of Doctor, and with this view to submit to a fresh examination. He judged it dutiful to defer to their wish; and accordingly repaired to Leyden on the 19th of June, and on the same day underwent a private examination. The success and issue of this examination, which was conducted by the distinguished Gomarus, I prefer to express in the words of Arminius himself, as furnishing a thoroughly candid and remarkable testimony in favour of his examinator. He says, 'I was examined on Tuesday by Gomarus, in the presence of the illustrious Grotius and Merula. He performed his part actively and honourably. I answered his questions as well as I could at the time. He, and the other two who were present, expressed themselves satisfied. The examination turned on questions relating to the substance of theology; and he conducted himself quite as he ought, and in the manner I could have wished.' [Ex Arm. Epist. ined. ad J. Uiteub. 21 Juuii script.].

Three weeks after, as a further step to his obtaining the title of doctor, he held a public disputation on the 10th day of July, forenoon and afternoon; and defended ably and spiritedly the theses assigned him Concerning the Nature of God — the part of opponents having been undertaken by Peter Bertius, Festus Hommius, Crucius, and Nicolas Grevinchovius. The disputation passed off with universal applause. Our Arminius was the first, as Bertius testifies, who, in the Leyden Academy, bore away the title and degree of doctor. The celebrated Gomarus conferred the honour upon him, with the usual formalities, on the 11th July. At the sametime also, and on the occasion of this academic festival, he delivered that highly polished oration Concerning the Priestly Office of Christ, which is still extant among his posthumous works.

Moreover, that a public memorial might remain of the honour thus conferred upon him, the Senatus Academicus further decreed that the following testimonial should be presented to him at the time:—

'The Rector and Professors of the Leyden Academy in Holland, to the reader, greeting:'

'Praiseworthy in every respect, and founded on reasons the strongest and most commendable, is the custom introduced by emperors, kings, and commonwealths, that the man who has done distinguished service in any science or art should be presented with the honourable testimonial of some university, and become known to all by the proclamation of his learning and virtue. If this be of the highest utility in all the sciences and arts, the more needful is it in sacred theology, by how much the doctrine of piety, from the majesty of divine things, in the highest degree transcends all other arts and sciences. A twofold advantage, in particular, seems to result from such testimonials — to these who are furnished with them on the one hand, to the public on the other; for in the first place, true and genuine doctors of the Church come thereby to be better known; and in the next place, those engaged in this science—the noblest and most glorious of all — are animated and stimulated to prosecute with more alacrity such lofty studies. They too who are invested with a dignity so great are first reminded of their own duty, and of the faith they have pledged to Christ and his Church; and then they also feel animated themselves to hold on successfully in the career they have begun. Wherefore, as that most reverend and illustrious man, the learned James Arminius, has, during these many years past, in which he has applied his mind to the study of sacred literature, abundantly proved to the satisfaction of all of us, not only in a private examination, but also in theses On the Nature of God which he publicly and most learnedly maintained against the arguments and objections of all, his remarkable and extraordinary knowledge and skill, at once of sacred letters and of orthodox theology, we have judged him in the highest degree worthy to be honoured with our public testimonial, and to be by us commended to all good men. Accordingly, by the authority granted us by that most excellent prince and lord, of glorious memory, William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and Governor of Holland, Zealand, &c., and also by the illustrious States of Holland and Zealand, we have designated and declared, and do designate and declare, the forenamed learned James Arminius (and happy and auspicious may this be to the Republic and to the Christian Church!) to be Doctor of Sacred Theology; and we have given, and do give unto him, authority to interpret publicly and privately the sacred Scriptures, to teach the mysteries of religion, and to dispute, write, and preside at discussions on points of the Christian Faith, as well as to solve theological questions; also to perform all public and formal acts pertaining to the true office of a Doctor in theology; in fine, to enjoy all the privileges and immunities as well as prerogatives which, whether by right or by custom, are due to this order and dignity of the theological doctorate. In fullest faith of all which, we have ordered to be given to him this public testimonial, authenticated by having affixed to it the greater seal of this Academy, and subscribed by the hand of the secretary. — Given at Leyden, in Holland, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and three, on the tenth day of July, new style.'

'B. Vulcanius.' [Ex ipso autograph, sigillo Academiae subsignato.].

Having in this manner obtained the title of doctor, the subject of our memoir returned to Amsterdam; and after transacting in that city some matters of business which considerations of honour made it requisite to dispatch, at the close of the summer holidays he bade a final farewell to that celebrated church, of which he had officiated as pastor for a period of fifteen years. Nay, more; that he might address himself with the more spirit to the province assigned him, and sustain no injury henceforth from the sinister reports which had previously been circulated to his prejudice, it seemed good to the Amsterdam Presbytery, on the eve of his departure, to furnish him with an honourable testimonial, in which the rulers of that church testified:— 'That the consummate integrity of Arminius, their dearest co-presbyter, both for blamelessness of life and soundness of doctrine as well as of manners, had, in the course of long acquaintance been so thoroughly testified, that they would value nothing more highly than the continued privilege of his advice, services, and familiar friendship. But, seeing it was now otherwise arranged, they gave thanks to Almighty God that they had reaped fruit, not to he repented of, from the unwearied zeal and exertions of this their fellow-labourer. They also acknowledged, freely and cordially, that they were not a little indebted to this their beloved brother, for the alacrity with which he had borne his full share along with them in all that pertained to the efficient discharge of the sacred function; and for this reason they commended him, from the heart, to all pious men, and to all the most learned.'

This very handsome testimony was followed up by another from the Amsterdam Classis, signed in name of the entire judicatory, by the Revds.

John Ursinus, Halsberg, and Hallius, in which they openly declare: 'That Doctor Arminius, who had now for fifteen years been a member of their assembly, had always purely, and with much success, taught wholesome doctrine; had administered the sacraments, according to the institution of our Lord; had propagated with great zeal the true and Christian religion; and had, by his diligence and regular attendance, proved an ornament to their assembly; further, that by his prudence and address he had settled with others affairs of great difficulty and importance; that he always promptly undertook whatever burdens were imposed upon him with a view to promote the edification of the church; that he had, up to that very day, adorned his sacred calling by the respectability and probity of his life; arid, in a word, that both in the sacred office, and in the common intercourse of life, he had conducted himself towards all in such a manner as became the genuine servant of Christ.' [Integra haec testimonia vide sis in Bert. Orat. Funeb.].

CHAPTER VII.

DISCUSSIONS OF ARMINIUS AT LEYDEN, ESPECIALLY OH THE

SUBJECT OF PREDESTINATION; AND CONSEQUENT OPPOSITION OF

GOMARUS. —A.D. 1603, 1604.

Thus honourably sent away, Arminius transferred his residence to Leyden, and concentrated all his care on the one aim, how to sustain with sufficient dignity the office he had obtained. As he reflected in those days, upon the lustre of that very important office, his heart sometimes failed him. In course of time, however, reassured by the kindly judgments of many respecting him, and by the favour of the entire Academy, he (in a letter dated 22nd Sept.

1603) gave expression in these words to the confidence of his spirit: 'I will therefore, with the help of the good God, address myself to this province, and look for success by his abundant blessing. He knows from what motive I have undertaken this office, what is my aim, what object I have in view in discharging the duties of it. He discerns and approves, I know. It is not the empty honour of this world — mere smoke and bubble — nor the desire of amassing wealth, (which indeed were in vain, let me strive to the utmost,) that has impelled me hither; but my one wish is to do public service in the gospel of Christ, and to exhibit that gospel as powerfully and plainly as possible before those who are destined, in their turn, to propagate it to others.' [Ex Epist. Arm. 22 Sept. 1603. script.].

In this spirit he mounted the academic chair, and commenced his prelections with three elegant and polished orations, which he delivered in succession.

The first treated Of the object of Sacred Theology; the second, Of the Author and End of Theology; the third of its Certitude. By this method he strove to instil into the minds of the students a love for that divine and most dignified of all the sciences; and at his very entrance into his office he judged with Socrates, the wisest of the Gentiles, that the principal part of his responsibility stood fulfilled could he only succeed in inflaming his disciples with an ardent desire of learning. The foundation being thus laid, he proceeded to build thereupon his finished prelections on the prophetic book of Jonah, which, many years before, he had expounded from the pulpit in his vernacular tongue. And indeed these lectures, while scarcely yet begun, conciliated towards him the favourable regards of auditors of all ranks, to such a degree that they regarded with profound respect this new Atlas of the Academy; and judged that in this renowned doctor and successor, most of all, they had got the deceased Junius restored to them again. The most noble curators of the Academy, too, congratulating themselves and their school on the accession of such a man, rendered the return of a grateful mind to those by whose interest and assiduity they had procured his release from the people of Amsterdam.

As the illustrious Nicolas Cromhout, senator of the Provincial Court, had been preeminently active in this business, the noble John Dousa thought him entitled to have the following tribute of thanks sent to him in name of the entire Academy:—

'Cromhout! in Holland's Senate no mean name;

Cromhout, rare laurel in thy country's fame;

Practised in courts, accomplished and refined.

No sordid motive taints thy lofty mind.

Much owes our era to thy virtues rare,

(Could heaven a boon bestow more rich and fair?) Yet more we owe; far through thy zeal it came

That Amsterdam gave up a tender claim,

And Leyden's learned halls could boast Arminius' name.'

[The following are the lines, the sense of which we have thus endeavoured to present to the English reader:—

'Kromhouti, o Batavi pars haud postrema Senatus, Cromhouti, o Patriae gloria rara tuse:

Quod Fori, et assiduo Rerum limatus in usu,

Sordida nou ulla peetora labe geras;

Multum equidem (quid enim majus dare Numina possint?) Virtuti debent saecula nostra tuae:

Plus tamen, Arminium quod te duce et auspice primum Hollands urbs dederit Amsterodama Scholae.']

To these lines we have pleasure in adding part of a most elegant poem published on the same occasion, and by the same poet, in praise of the very eloquent Uitenbogaert:—

'By every true and pious breast,

By all who love religion's ways,

This truly ought to be confessed —

That Uitenbogaert claims our praise.

To him our lasting thanks are due:

Nor least that Leyden's learned fame

Gained through his zeal a lustre new —

It gained Armmius' rising name.'

[The following are the original lines;—

'Et sane fateamur hoc uecesse est

Omnes queis pietas, amorque veri

Aut res Religionis ulla cordi est,

Istoc nomine nos Uitenbogardo

Esse ac perpetuum fore obligatos:

Haud paulo tamen obligatiores

Recens ob meritum, quod Aurasinae

Doctorem Arminium Scholae dedisti.']

Nor ought it by any means to be passed by in silence, that this same clergyman, in consideration of his strenuous efforts to further the call of Arminius, was honoured with a silver cup; this memorial of gratitude being presented to him, in name of the Senatus Academicus, by those influential men, Cornelius Neostadius, and Nicolas Zeistius [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.].

Meanwhile the subject of our memoir had scarcely get foot in the Academy when he was requested by two students of theology, namely Corranus and Gilbert Jacchaeus, that he would consent to honour with his presence their theses, or positions, which they had drawn up to be subjected to public examination — those of Corranus being on Justification, those of Jacchaeus on Original Sin [Ex tractatu quodam Bertii, Belg. idiom, script.]. But although these positions contained some things not exactly to his mind, or in harmony with the opinion he had formed on these questions, he judged it nevertheless to be quite in keeping with his office to undertake the part proposed to him; for he was not ignorant of the fact, that some students of divinity under the presidency of Gomarus himself, and of other doctors, had more than once, in their own cause, defended certain dogmas to which these same doctors did not on all points accord their assent. For this reason the subject of our memoir also (on the 28th October) conformed to this custom, by no means unusual in universities; but on this occasion these very learned youths defended so strenuously each his own cause, that there was scarcely any need for the help or interference of the president.

Perceiving, however, but too plainly, while yet in the very threshold of the office on which he had entered, that the young intellects under his care were entangling themselves in the intricacies of many profitless questions, and, to the neglect of the standard of celestial truth, prosecuting a variety of thorny theorems and problems, he took counsel with his colleagues, and gave it as his opinion that this growing evil should be resisted, and the youth recalled to the earlier and more masculine method of study. With this view, he reckoned nothing more important than to foreclose, as far as he could, crabbed questions, and the cumbrous mass of scholastic assertions, and to inculcate on his disciples that divine wisdom which was drawn from the superlatively pure fountains of the Sacred Word, and was provided for the express purpose of guiding us to a life of virtue and happiness. From his first introduction into the Academy it was his endeavour to aim at this mark, and give a corresponding direction to his studies both public and private. But truly this laudable attempt was in no small degree thwarted, partly by the jealousy which some had conceived against him, and partly also by a certain inveterate prejudice as to his heterodoxy, with which many ministers of religion had long been imbued, and under the impulse of which they stirred up his colleagues against him.

The first germs, indeed, of this budding jealousy betrayed themselves in the following year (1604); For when Arminius, who had undertaken the task of interpreting the Old Testament in particular, proceeded also now and then to give a public exposition of certain portions of the New Testament, Gomarus took this amiss, and began to allege that the right of expounding the New Testament belonged solely to him, as Primarius Professor of Sacred Theology

— for this title had been conceded to him by the Senatus Academicus, a short time prior to the arrival of Arminius. Nay, more; happening to meet Arminius, he felt unable to contain himself, and in a burst of passion broke out in these words — 'You have invaded my professorship.' Arminius replied that he did not mean to detract anything whatever from the primacy of his colleague, and from the academic titles and privileges conferred upon him; and that he had not done him the slightest injury, having obtained license from the honourable curators to select themes of prelection at any time, not only from the Old Testament, but also from the New, provided he did not encroach on the particular subject in which Gomarus might be engaged.

But this dispute, which arose out of a matter of no moment, and was easily allayed, was from henceforth succeeded by others which opened the way to dissensions of greater magnitude, and of more disastrous issue to the Reformed Church. For Arminius, under the conviction that it was his duty to do nothing against the dictate of an undefiled conscience, and the proper liberty of teaching, in matters of religion, conceded to himself as well as to other doctors of divinity, judged it to be in no respect unbecoming or unlawful for him — especially as he had not concealed from the honourable curators of the Academy that on the subject of divine predestination he differed from the doctors of the Genevan school — to give forth, in a temperate manner, a public declaration of his opinion on that point. Accordingly, after the professors of theology had entered into a mutual arrangement as to the order and succession in which the disputations were to be held, and the lot had fallen to Arminius to dispute on the subject of predestination, he drew up, on the 7th February, certain theses on that point, and exposed them for public discussion. Their purport was this: 'that divine predestination is the decree of God's good pleasure in Christ, by which, with himself, from eternity, he resolved to justify and adopt believers, on whom he decreed to bestow faith, and to give eternal life to them, to the praise of his glorious grace; that reprobation, on the other hand, is the decree of wrath, or the severe will of God, by which, from eternity, he resolved to condemn to eternal death, unbelievers who, by their own fault, and by the just judgment of God, will not believe, as persons who are not in a state of union with Christ—and this for the declaration of his wrath and power.' [Vid. Uitenb. Hist. Eccl.]. But although this position of his did not perfectly correspond to those which Calvin and Beza had given forth on this subject, still he by no means looked upon it as a novelty, but as entirely coinciding with the opinion which George Sohnius, and other divines before him of the Reformed religion, had taught both by tongue and pen. Besides, that he might not, in defending these positions, incur the just offence of any one, he was particularly on his guard, in the course of this disputation, against saying anything in disparagement of the reputation of Calvin and Beza, sparing' their names, and manifesting severity towards no one of a different opinion. Not long after, (on the 29th May, and sometime in July,) with the same freedom of discussion, and in the same temperate tone, he further subjected to public examination, his theses On the Church, and On the Sin of our First Parents; and in the course of this last disputation, Gomarus and Trelcatius being present, he took occasion, by a series of very solid arguments, to confute the necessity, and establish the contingency of that sin. [Vid. Epist Eccles. p. 134.]. But although he was convinced that the opinion of his adversaries on this point involved numerous absurdities, and that everything that was wont to be adduced, in palliation of this dogma, of the absolute necessity of things, deserved to be discarded, he nevertheless, in this as well as in other controversies, conducted his own cause with much moderation, and, directing his address to his hearers, begged this only at their hands, that they would diligently sift whatever arguments he advanced; adding — what on all occasions, public and private, he was wont to declare —

that he was ready to yield to those who taught what might be more in accordance with truth. Not a few, however, murmured against the disputation thus held, and took it amiss that among other things he had maintained, 'that there is no absolute necessity in things, besides God; yea, that not even does fire burn necessarily; but that every necessity which exists in things, or events, is nothing else than the relation of cause to effect.' [Ex Epist. Arm. 17

Aug. 1604, script. Vid. Epist. Eccles. p. 138.].

On the same point, too, shortly after, a discussion was started and kept up at considerable length with him, by the very learned Helmichius, who happened at that time to have taken a journey to Leyden [Videsis de hac materia Armin.

disserentem in Epist. ad Uitenb. 17 Aug. et 3 Kal. Sept. script. 1604.].

Helmichius asserted, that many things were, in different respects, both contingent and necessary. This Arminius denied of things absolutely necessary. Helmichius appealed to passages plainly testifying that the word of God stands; that the word of God cannot be broken; that Gods counsel is fulfilled, &c.; and thence inferred that what God had decreed must come to pass necessarily. Arminius denied this consequence, on the ground that God's decree might rightly and correctly be said to stand, if that which he had decreed came to pass, although it should not come to pass necessarily.

Helmichius acknowledged that the opinion which Arminius defended, did not subvert the foundations of the faith, neither could it be called heretical.

Arminius on the other hand maintained, that so far was this opinion from deserving to be branded with so black a name, that nothing, he felt persuaded, would tend more to illustrate the glory of God, than if all Christians whatsoever were to maintain that there is nothing necessary besides God; and that he not only foreknows things contingent, but also that his decrees are accomplished through contingent events and free causes. At length, however, after much had passed on both sides, and Arminius had offered to hold a conference with him respecting all the articles of the Christian religion, and the entire system of theological doctrine, Helmichius bade him a friendly farewell.

Meanwhile his colleagues up to this time had stirred no strife against him, on the subject of the controversies thus agitated; nor had they given as much as the slightest indication, public or private, of a hostile spirit [Ex Epist. Arm. 3

Kal. Sept. 1604.]. For although Gomarus, who was engaged at this time in the Exposition of the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, had given a public pledge that he would discuss all the opinions concerning predestination, to be followed by a statement and proof of his own, this, so far from striking terror into Arminius, led him rather to declare, 'that if that very distinguished man should advance such arguments as were incapable of being answered, he for his part would be the first to assent to his opinion and recant his own.' Thus maintaining entire for his colleagues the same liberty of defending their own opinion in which he himself rejoiced, he cherished the hope that they would by no means overstep the bounds of Christian charity and fraternal equity.

But alas, while thus secure, and meditating no evil, he was overtaken by a very vehement storm. For Gomarus did not think fit to wait till a proper opportunity should be furnished him for disputing on the subject of predestination, but either of his own accord, or, as is more probable, at the instigation of others, so far overstepped order, and his own proper turn, as to expose to public view certain theses on that selfsame subject, which, according to the sole custom of the Academy, and in his proper rotation, Arminius had already discussed; and reports spread throughout the city that he was about to descend into the arena against Arminius, in open war. The day intimated for holding this disputation, was the 31st October. When it came round, straightway Gomarus, in a preface sufficiently acrimonious, and with an excited countenance, stated the reasons which had impelled him, to hold this disputation out of the due order; and he advanced many things which were manifestly intended as an attack upon Arminius. As to the positions he defended, they hinged on this, 'that the object of predestination is creatures rational, salvable, damnable, creatable, fallible, and recoverable. Further, that from among these, indefinitely foreknown, God, as absolute sovereign, of his own right and good pleasure, foreordained, on the one hand, certain individuals, to his own supernatural ends, namely, eternal life, and creation in an entire state of original righteousness, and holiness of life; and also on the other hand destined other individuals, eternally rejected from eternal life, to death and everlasting ignominy, and to the ways leading thereto, namely, to creation in a state of integrity, permission to fall into sin, loss of original righteousness, and abandonment in that loss; for this end, that by this way of acting, he might make known his most sovereign authority, wrath, and power on the reprobate, and the glory of his saving grace in relation to the elect.'

Yea, more; on that same occasion this doctor asserted and openly maintained, 'that the gospel could not be simply called the manifestation of the divine predestination;' and added, by way of corollary, that, 'Castellio, Coornhert, and the Lutherans, falsely object to the Reformed Churches, and in particular to Calvin and Beza, who did signal service to the Church, and to the truth of predestination, in opposition to the Pelagians, that God by this doctrine is made the author of sin.'

Arminius, who was present at this disputation from beginning to end, stomached the insult, and bore in silence whatever odium was thus created against him. Nay, sick in body at the time, though not in mind, he, on the day following that on which the disputation was held (Nov. 1), opened his mind to Uitenbogaert in the following words :— 'I know, and have the testimony of conscience, that I have neither said nor done aught to afford Gomarus just cause of offence. I will readily return to favour even with him, though his conduct has been most offensive — yea, and with him of Amsterdam also, if he will henceforth but hold his peace. It is not lawful for me to hate any one, or long to retain wrath against any one, however just: that God who is described to us in the Bible instructs me to this effect by his word, Spirit, and example.

Would that he might teach me to be moved by nothing, except when any blame is justly attributable to myself. It is not my part to answer for what another says or does; and I should be foolish were I to concede to any one so much of right in me, as that he should be able to disturb me as often as he had a mind. Be this my brazen wall — a conscience void of offence. 'Forward still let me go in my begun search after truth, and therein let me die, with the good God on my side, even if, on this account, I must needs incur the hatred and ill-will of the whole world! The disciple is not above his master. No new thing is this, for the truth to be rejected even by those whom such conduct least beseems, and who least of all wish to incur such a charge.' [Ex Epist.

Arm. 1 Nov., 1604, script].

Moreover, that he might not appear to have abandoned the defence of the truth, at which, through him, a stab had been dealt, or to have any misgivings with respect to his own cause, he composed not long after, for the benefit of those who under him were devoutly prosecuting the study of theology, that highly-finished Examination of the Theses exposed to view by Gomarus for public discussion, which, many years after his decease, was (in 1645) given to the world, along with these same theses of Gomarus, by that very learned man, Stephen Curcellaeus. This golden little treatise is characterised by the same acuteness, strength of reasoning, and transparency of learned diction which distinguish his other writings; and he appears to have presented his eminent colleague with a copy of it. Mark, reader, this most generous preface to it, which is well entitled to a place in our narrative: 'In the highest degree useful, and above all things necessary, is that admonition of the Apostle which commands us to prove and devoutly to examine the dogmas propounded in the Church before we approve and receive them as truths. For seeing that, if we except apostles and prophets, the most eminent doctors of the Church are not placed beyond the liability of error, it does happen that they advance some things occasionally which are not taught by God in his Word, but which they either themselves have excogitated in their own human spirit, or received from others to whose authority they attribute more than is meet. Nay, this very thing may happen even at the time when they themselves think that they have thoroughly examined the dogmas they propound according to the standard of Scripture. Such being the case, do not take it ill, illustrious Gomarus, if I weigh according to Scripture, and candidly and temperately explain what I desiderate in those theses on predestination which you penned not so long ago, and publicly exhibited as matter for disputation. I testify solemnly, and in the presence of God, that I take upon me this task not from the desire of contention, but in the endeavour to investigate and find out the truth, to the end that the truth may more and more become known and everywhere obtain in the Church of Christ. That you also set before you this aim when you addressed yourself to that disputation, I am thoroughly assured. In mind and end, then, we agree, however in judgment we may chance to differ. Of this difference I take, as in duty bound, God speaking in the Scriptures to be the arbiter; and devoutly venerating his majesty and supplicating his favour, let me now address myself to my task.'

These statements being premised, and a basis laid for his treatise, he proceeds to build thereupon his considerations on the several propositions of Gomarus, and of the proofs of these noted down on the margin. Eminently masculine and judicious is his reply to the corollary of Gomarus in which he complains of some who preferred against the Reformed Church, and its principal doctors, the charge of blasphemy. Here Arminius wisely judges that it to ought be borne in mind, 'that it is one thing avowedly to make God the author of sin, and another thing to teach somewhat in ignorance from which one could legitimately infer that God, by that doctrine, was made the author of sin. The former could not be fastened upon any of the doctors of the Reformed Church; and whatever Castellio, Coornhert, and others, had urged, perhaps somewhat too offensively, against them, was grounded solely on this consideration, that in their opinion that offensive conclusion was fairly and legitimately deducible from the doctrine of those divines. But in identifying the Reformed Churches with the learned Calvin and Beza, Gomarus had done more than he was warranted to do. What some eminent doctors professed could not perpetually be laid to the charge of the churches, unless it were clearly evident that the same doctrine had been approved by the churches, and embodied in their Confessions. Moreover, setting aside all considerations of persons, or sinister intention as respects objectors, the naked arguments they advanced were entitled to examination. Celebrity of name exempted no one from the liability to err; and the first teachers of the Reformed may be held entitled to the highest esteem and gratitude of the Church, although they may not perhaps have seen sufficiently through all those things by which it had been deformed. It was false to rank with Pelagians those who impugned the opinion which Gomarus maintained on the subject of predestination, it being as clear as noon-day, from the ancient ecclesiastical synods, that the Pelagian doctrines could be rejected even by those who nevertheless by no means assented to the opinion contained in the above theses of Gomarus.

Augustine himself could solidly confute the errors of the Pelagians, and at the same time omit that doctrine which he taught on the subject of divine predestination. Nay, even that opinion which Gomarus and several others delivered on that subject differed very materially from the opinion of Augustine, and supposed many things which Augustine would by no means have granted. It is incumbent on us to avoid the breakers not of Pelegianism only, but also of Manichaeism, and of errors still more infamous. For his part, after attentively weighing the doctrine, not so much of the entire Reformed Church as of Gomarus and certain others, he felt thoroughly persuaded that it followed from it that God was the author of sin; at the same time he also testified and declared that he heartily detested all the tenets of the Pelagian doctrine as these had been condemned in the synods of Mileve, Orange, and Jerusalem; and if any one could prove that aught akin to these was deducible from the sentiments he had above set forth, he would that very instant change his opinion.'

Thus writes Arminius; nor would we judge it dutiful to forbear mentioning in this connexion, that Gomarus, at a subsequent period, pressed by certain arguments advanced by Arminius in the treatise just referred to, introduced several changes for the better into his later theses on the subject of the eternal decree and predestination of God. For besides that he abandoned that absurd opinion, 'that the decrees of God are nought other than God himself,'

and maintained the direct contrary with all his might, he was also glad to admit that there is in God what the schoolmen call a conditionate knowledge, by the aid of which he sought to rid his opinion of that enormous monstrosity which made God the author of the sin of the first man, and consequently of all the rest which proceed from it [Ex praefat. S. Curcellaei in Examen Gomari Thes.].

CHAPTER VIII.

SUSPICIONS AGAINST ARMINIUS, AND RIGOROUS MEASURES WITH

HIS STUDENTS; FRESH DISPUTATIONS OF COMMENCEMENT OF

ECCLESIASTICAL PROCEEDINGS. A.D. 1604, 1605.

Not to wander from the thread of our narrative, although the opinion of Gomarus above-named, and which he publicly defended, on the subject of Divine predestination, appeared — on the express admission even of his greatest supporters — to stretch somewhat beyond the limits of the Belgic Confession, and to transcend the doctrine prevailingly taught in the churches of the Reformed, still Arminius had to bear a crushing load of jealous feeling; and his adversaries left no means untried by which to burn some brand of contumely into his rising reputation. Immediately through the town of Leyden, and thence through all Holland, the rumour was set afloat that the professors of sacred literature differed seriously among themselves. The matter was everywhere in the mouths of carders, furriers, weavers, and other artisans of that class — chiefly Flemings, with whom Leyden abounded. Many, too, in their gross ignorance of theological controversies, attributed to Arminius the opinion of Gomarus, and to Gomarus, on the other hand, the opinion of Arminius [Uiteub. Hist. Eccles.].

In the beginning of next year (1605) the subject of our memoir was presented with the fasces of the Academy, and the title of Rector Magnific; but though he could discern that, with this increased dignity, he was regarded by many with an increased measure of esteem, he saw not less plainly that others abated nothing whatever of their alienation of mind, and of their clandestine endeavours against him. Many put the worst construction on his best words and deeds. If at any tune, in building up his opinion on certain controversies, he happened now and then to advance certain arguments which were also employed by Popish writers themselves, by Lutherans, and others besides the Reformed, the clamour was forthwith raised by ignorant persons that he had gone over to the enemy's camp. Besides, they set it down as a fault, that in establishing some doctrines of the Christian faith, and vindicating the truth of these against the contempt poured upon them by adversaries, he expressed the opinion that certain frivolous arguments, little apposite to the point, ought to be utterly discarded, and others of much greater strength to be substituted in their place. In this he trod in the footsteps of Calvin himself, who had expounded very differently from the ancient doctors of the Church many passages of the Old Testament which they had often and inconsiderately cited in support of the eternal divinity of Christ. Nor were parties wanting who charged it against Arminius as a crime, that he had handed to his disciples, for their private transcription, certain treatises written in his own hand, and embracing his opinion on various controversies — forgetting that the famous Junius and others had used the same liberty before him [Vid. praefat. Act.

Synod. Dordr.]. Moreover, while the interests of the churches, notwithstanding that a controversy had arisen in the Academy on the subject of predestination, would in all probability have sustained no injury had the discussion been confined within the walls of the university, or to private conferences between professors and pastors, conducted with that good faith, moderation, and prudence that were meet; yet the churches came to be involved in far greater peril after many had filled the whole country and adjacent regions with false reports. Hence, for example, the public complaints and bitter declamations against Arminius with which the places of worship up and down at this time resounded, to the effect that entirely new doctrines were introduced; that the doctrine hitherto received by the Reformed was changed; that old heresies were now suspended on a new post; and that right good care ought to be taken that no injury should thence accrue to the Church.

Among the rest, Festus Hommius, a clergyman of Leyden, was very active at that time as a declaimer of the sort described. This person, by underhand circumlocution, traduced the character of Arminius; blackened without end his words and actions; and hurled against him, in his absence, many charges, which in his presence he refused to produce. For this reason, the subject of our memoir, aware of what things were done against him in secret, thought that this ecclesiastic ought to be seriously and boldly reminded of his duty; and embracing an opportunity that occurred, John Uitenbogaert and Adrian Borrius, the one a clergyman of the Hague, the other of Leyden, being present, he replied to all the matters of calumny, and all his detractions, in such a manner that Hommius was struck dumb, and even declared, at the close of the interview, his willingness to institute an inquiry after truth. But from this very time, strange to say, that clergyman not only shunned private interviews with Arminius, but, that he might not betray any want of confidence in his own cause, he subsequently told his familiar friends in private, that on returning home from this interview with Arminius, and humbly praying to God that He would vouchsafe to open his eyes and show him the truth, he was instantly surrounded with such a flood of light and joy, that he firmly resolved within himself to persevere henceforth in the received opinion. On hearing this story, Arminius broke out into these words: 'Well done, worthy investigators of the truth! As if God, forsooth, grants his Holy Spirit at one prayer in such large bestowals as to impart the ability to judge, in matters so great, without any liability of error! He gives his Holy Spirit to his elect who importune his awful majesty for it night and day.' [Vid. Arm. ad Uitenb. epist. 20. Maji 1605.

script.—Epist. Eccles. p. 245.].

His disciples and admirers, however, began in those days to be accused of the same crimes which were imputed to himself; the discourses and arguments by which they sought to establish the doctrines of the Christian faith being subjected to misinterpretation. Hence the rumour gained currency that those who had returned from the Academy, or turned aside to other academies, were wantonly insulting the Reformed Churches, by disputing, contradicting, and vilifying the received doctrine. Nor were there wanting those who, by a certain guileful art, narrowly watched several students of theology that were on more familiar terms with our doctor, and were in the habit of attending his private meetings; and from their answers — which, as may occasionally be expected of very young men, were at tunes somewhat unguarded, and stretched beyond the mind of their master — they snatched a handle and an opportunity of foully traducing, to the people, Arminius himself.

More severe investigations, besides, began to be instituted by certain Classes and ecclesiastical assemblies against his disciples: and their words and actions were watched more sternly than was meet.

This was exemplified by the case of John Narsius of Dort, who at this time prosecuted under Arminius the study of theology with a zeal not to be repented of, and who afterwards occupied a position of eminence as pastor of the church at Grave. Being a young man of very practised and highly polished intellect, he was supported, in hope of the Church, at the expense of the State of Amsterdam; and although in the year immediately preceding, on being privately examined by the pastors of this very celebrated city, he had given them the very highest satisfaction, this in no degree availed to exempt him from the suspicion of having imbibed impious opinions from his preceptor. In order, therefore, to elicit his mind, these same clergymen thought proper (on the 13th Jan., 1605) to order certain theological questions to be drawn up in writing, that to these Narsius might reply, also in writing. That the reader may be enabled to judge the more accurately of the controversies agitated at this tune, it may not be out of place here to present these very questions in detail, along with the answers of Narsius himself.

Question I. Whether God so directs and governs the free will of man that he is neither obliged, nor is able, to do anything in any other mode, and any further, than precisely as God has decreed?

Answered in the affirmative; but with this qualification, that Divine Providence be not held to take away the free will of man, in the act of directing the same.

Quest. II. Whether God governs the actions of the wicked in this manner, that they no otherwise act, or can act, than as God has determined?

Ans. Yes; if the question is to be taken in this sense, that those who had come to apprehend Christ [Referring evidently to Acts ii. 23; iv. 28.—TR.], could not have done that until God permitted it.

Quest. III. Whether whatsoever things, come to pass contingently in respect of men (that is, so that they can come to pass, or not come to pass, and can happen in this manner, or in another) also come to pass thus contingently in respect of providence and of the divine decree?

Ans. I have to request, brethren, that, seeing the word contingently is not to be found in the Sacred Volume, nor in the Belgic Confession, nor yet in the Palatine Catechism, and is moreover used in a variety of senses by scholastic writers, you will submit to rest satisfied with this my confession: 'Nothing comes to pass by chance, but whatsoever things come to pass, whether of great account or small, whether good or bad, are subjected to the government and direction of Divine Providence; in such a manner, indeed, that those things which seem to us to be uncertain, and to happen by chance, nevertheless, in respect of the most wise and omnipotent providence of God, and of his eternal decree, happen certainly and immutably; although, of the evil itself which is committed, he is in no respect the author.'

Quest. IV. Whether the same place can always be assigned to free will in good actions, as can be assigned in bad?

Ans. To man, after the fall, and in a state of depravity, only a free will belongs which is prone to evil, so that he is the slave of sin and Satan.

Quest. V. Whether men before regeneration may have a good will, which is truly good, or may have true faith?

Ans. Man considered as fallen has, from himself, neither a good will which is truly good, nor faith, nor regeneration.

Quest. VI. Whether all to whom the Divine law has been made known, can act genuine repentance, and properly convert themselves to God?

Ans. By no means.

Quest. VII. Whether power to believe is always supplied, by the self-same operation, to all to whom the doctrine of the gospel is announced?

Ans. To man considered in himself belongs no power of believing; but whosoever at any time believe, these same persons receive that faith in no other way than by the special illumination of the Holy Spirit; so that faith is the gift of God, freely bestowed, apart from all consideration of merit. So far, however, as concerns other questions, for example, what kind of grace does God bestow through the preaching of the gospel, and in addition thereto; in what manner that celestial influence operates on, and concurs with, the intellect and the will; whether, moreover, to those who have no faith in Christ, common grace of that kind be given through, or independently of, the preaching of the evangelical doctrine, by which they can believe, and consequently by it be rendered inexcusable? Respecting these and other points I find nothing explicit in the Belgic Confession and Catechism, nor do I venture at present to maintain anything whatever, either on one side or on the other. On the contrary, my wish is to adhere cordially to the Confession and Catechism, and keep myself open to light.

Quest. VIII. Whether there be in all men original sin? Whence that flows into human nature — namely, whether through the soul of the parents, or through the body, or from any other source?

Ans. Original sin has place in all mortals whatsoever, with the exception of Christ. But whether it reaches us through the soul or through the body does not, in my judgment at least, sufficiently appear from the sacred writings. Yet I cannot but believe that the thing itself, by a wonderful, indeed, but still just dispensation of God, flows into us from the fall of Adam, in whom we have all sinned. All the descendants of Adam, moreover, have a certain innate corruption which renders them useless in respect to anything good, and prone to all that is evil, and the remains of which even the regenerate themselves deeply feel.

Quest. IX. Whether the words of Matthew chap. xviii. v. 17, 18, 'Tell it to the Church,' &c., do not refer to ecclesiastical discipline?

Ans. That ecclesiastical discipline has been instituted by God, I believe; nor am I prepared to deny that the passage cited bears reference to it [Vid.

Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. Belgico idiom. conscript. p. 327.].

Such were the replies of Narsius, from whose mouth (if he had chanced to advance anything unguardedly) not a few endeavoured to fish out somewhat that might afford ground of attack or of cavil against his preceptor Arminius.

Great, however, as was the caution he used in the foregoing answers, he was unable to satisfy these ecclesiastical Aristarchuses [Aristarchus was a grammarian of Alexandria, who subjected Homer's poetry to very hard criticism. Hence his name became a proverbial designation for any severe critic. —TR.]. So far from this, being suspected and hated amongst them on the ground of his close intimacy with Arminius, he shared the same lot with him from that tune forward, until he was driven, by the impetuosity of adversaries, to identify himself with the party of the Remonstrants, after the death of Arminius, and openly to patronise their opinions and their cause.

Somewhat similar, about this time, was the treatment experienced by Abraham Vlietius, from Voorburg, who, besides attending Kuchlinus, availed himself also of the instructions of Arminius. At a public disputation held on the 30th April, under the presidency of Gomarus, on the subject of Divine Providence [Vid. Epist. Arm.], Vlietius, according to the custom of the Academy, and for the sake of exercising his powers, advanced, in a tone of sufficient moderation, certain solid arguments against the theses that were subjected to discussion. By this act he stirred the bile of the distinguished president to such a degree, that not content with replying to the objector in very acrimonious terms, he proceeded, with mind and feature thoroughly discomposed, and with little attempt at disguise, to traduce Arminius, who, he presumed—incorrectly, however—was the artificer and prompter of the objections in question. Arminius, who was present at this scene, bore with tranquil mind the insult thus perpetrated upon himself and his disciple, and judged it best to put up with it in silence. But when by this transaction Vlietius had drawn on himself the odium of many, as if his intention had been to excite an uproar, Arminius, to prevent the affair from entailing any injury on his beloved disciple, cheerfully interposed in support of his wronged reputation, with the following testimonial:—

'That Abraham Vlietius, in a disputation concerning Divine Providence held on the 30th April, 1605, was bound, from the office he then undertook in the college of disputants, to offer objections; and that, in objecting, he kept himself within the bounds of modesty, and advanced nothing unworthy either of himself or his auditory, and consequently gave no just occasion of complaint, I hereby testify as requested.'

'James Arminius,'

'Rector of the Academy for the time being, and myself an eye and ear witness.' [Ex ipso Arm. autograph.].

At the same time, moreover, in which these things happened, a somewhat serious annoyance was stirred against Arminius by his uncle and colleague, John Kuchlinus, Regent of the Theological Faculty. This person, under the pretext of an ardent zeal for the maintenance of the truth, and in opposition to novel doctrines and the active emissaries of innovation; and also of an apprehension lest the flower of their youth and the hope of the Church should be imbued with pernicious errors, left no stone unturned by which he might drive all the students of the Theological College away from the prelections of Arminius [Ex Epist. Arm.]. Accordingly, changing the hour for his own prelections, he chose the very hour in which Arminius had been accustomed to hold his, as that in which he would expound the several heads of the Belgic Confession; and he ordered all the students to be present at these academical exercises. This attempt, however, the subject of our memoir very spiritedly withstood; and having lodged a complaint respecting it to the honourable magistrates of the city of Leyden, he succeeded in getting the whole affair deferred until the next arrival of the curators of the Academy.

Meanwhile, in order to counteract with all his might the calumnies of those who flung against him the charge of error on the subject of Divine Providence, he held a public disputation on the 4th May, 1605, 'Concerning the righteousness and efficacy of Divine Providence respecting evil;' and, as may be seen in his polished theses on that subject, he very learnedly explained in what manner it had to do, not only with the beginning, but also with the progress and with the end of sin. Making allusion in another place [In his letter to Hippolytus a Collibus.] to this circumstance and that controversy, he observes: 'There are two stumbling-blocks against which I am solicitously on my guard — not to make God the author of sin, and not to do away with the freedom inherent in the human will: which two things if any one knows to avoid, there is no action he shall imagine which I will not most cheerfully allow to be ascribed to the Providence of God, if due regard be only had to the divine excellence.'

Shortly after the Academy had listened to his discussion on the subject of Divine Providence, Arminius, with the view of clearing himself of the charge of Pelagianism, produced and exposed for public examination, on the 23rd July, his theses 'concerning free will and its powers.' In drawing up these he declared, 'that his grand aim had been to promote the peace of the Church; that he had set forth nothing which bordered on falsehood, but, on the contrary, had suppressed several truths to which he was prepared to give expression, being well aware that it was one mode of procedure to suppress what was true, and another to speak what was false: the latter was in no case lawful; the former, however, was sometimes, yea very often, expedient.' [Ex Arm. Epist. 25 Julii script.]. Moreover, as he deemed it his duty to act cautiously, and take the utmost possible care that the justice of his cause and the moderation of his spirit might commend themselves to good and prudent men, he offered on every occasion to all who were meditating strife with him, what he had formerly offered to Helmichius and others — a conference, whether private or public, on the subject of these theological controversies.

This method, however, was not quite agreeable to the adversaries of Arminius; it pleased them to ply him with another mode of attack. They sent to him, accordingly, these deputies of the churches of South and North Holland, Francis Lansbergius, Libertus Fraxinus, Daniel Dolegius, John Bogardus, and James Dolandus, who arrived on the 30th June (1605). In explaining to him the object of their mission, they entered into a narration of those things which were extensively circulated concerning him and his doctrine; and how great was the solicitude felt by all the churches lest, the integrity of the Reformed doctrine being undermined, and the young men imbued with unsound opinions, this affair should at last eventuate in the destruction of the Church.

They further stated that several candidates for the sacred office, when admitted at any time to examination before their classis, gave answers altogether new and repugnant to the received doctrine, and sheltered themselves under the authority of Arminius [Ex Declarat. Arm. coram Ordinib.—Vide et Prajfat. Act. Synod. Dord]. They then begged of Arminius that he would not refuse to give an explanation of the matter, and to enter into a friendly conference with them.

Arminius replied, 'that this mode of procedure was to him in the highest degree displeasing. For were he to submit to it, he would be obliged very often to descend to conferences of this sort; nor would he ever be free from liability to this annoyance as often as any student in his examination, in giving some novel answer, should make a foolish appeal to the authority of his preceptor. To him, therefore, it appeared to be a more advisable course, that brethren, on hearing a novel answer of such a kind as seemed to be at variance with the Confession or Catechism of the Reformed Churches, ought immediately to confront that student with himself, he for his part being prepared, for the sake of expediting the business, to repair at his own expense to whatever place the brethren might choose.'

Not content, however, with this general answer, Lansbergius, in name of the rest, pressed still more urgently the conference proposed, when the subject of our memoir gave this further reply: 'He did not see on what principle he could enter into that conference. For, seeing that they bore the title of deputies, and would render an account of their proceedings to the synod, he was not at liberty to enter upon this business without the cognizance and consent, yea even the command, of those to whose authority he was subject. Nay more; no trivial hazard would thence accrue to himself, if, whatever might at any time be reported to the synod, as to the issue of this conference, he should be obliged to commit the whole detail entirely to their faith. Besides, as he was by no means conscious of having ever taught any doctrine which was antagonistic to the Sacred Writings, the Confession, or the Catechism, he did not see on what reasons this petition of theirs was grounded. The burden of proof devolved on those who asserted the contrary; or, failing proof, of confessing their fault. If, however, they were disposed to lay aside the character of deputies, he would not shrink from holding a conference about doctrine with them as private pastors, and from descending into that arena, there and then: — but on this condition, that whatever liberty in expounding their own opinion, and refuting the contrary, they vindicated for themselves, that self-same liberty should be competent to him. If in this way either party should satisfy the other, the entire business would be transacted; if it came short of this, it must be understood, that no report of it shall anywhere be rendered, but that the whole shall be referred to a National Council.' But at last, when he perceived that that plan and that condition were rejected by them, he asked them, as they were ready to take their departure, that they would propose the same conference which they had demanded of him, to his colleagues as well, Gomarus and Trelcatius; adding, and adducing many reasons in corroboration of the statement, that he had not given greater occasion for this demand than either of them. The deputies then promised to comply with this request, and having informed Arminius, some time after, that they had implemented their promise, they departed without having effected their object.

Meanwhile Arminius could not prevent the circulation of very various and frequent rumours respecting this affair; many in bad faith making it known, but suppressing all mention of his reasons for rejecting this conference, and of the description of conference which he himself had proposed. But these and other reasons which deterred him from formal conferences of that sort with synodical deputies, he explained on a subsequent occasion much more fully and distinctly in the presence of the illustrious States of Holland. His reasons as then advanced were in substance as follows.

'First, He did not reckon himself amenable to either Synod of Holland, South or North; on the contrary, he had other masters without whose consent and command it would have been unlawful in him to have engaged in such a conference. To this reason may be added

'A second, namely, the great inequality of such a conference; considering that between those who are about to confer on whatever matters, the utmost equality ought to subsist. For it is evident that they came to him armed with a certain public authority, while he sustained the character only of a private individual. They were in number several, but he stood alone; not only destitute of persons to aid him, but of persons to witness the proceedings contemplated. Nay more, these deputies were not there in their own right, but were obliged to hang by the judgment of their superiors, and defend their opinion concerning religion to the last extremity; so much so, indeed, that they could not have been at liberty to admit the force even of the strongest arguments which he could have adduced. As he, on the other hand, stood on his own right, he was in a condition, by bringing his conscience alone to decide, unfettered by the prejudgment of any one, to admit whatever it might have declared to him, on demonstrative grounds, to have been in accordance with truth.

'Thirdly, The report which these deputies would have given in to their superiors, after the conference had been held, could not but turn out in many respects to his serious injury; for, either by defect of understanding or of memory, or by prejudiced feelings, some things might easily have been added or omitted, and his words might have been repeated either in such a sense, or in such an order, as altogether to contradict his sentiments, and the actual facts of the case; while a larger measure of credit would have been accorded to these deputies, than would have been accorded to him, a private individual.

Nay more; in this way he would have conceded to this ecclesiastical convention a certain prerogative over him, which, however, in his judgment he could not rightly concede, consistently with the dignity of his office, and the authority of those on whose power he was dependent.' [Vid. Declarat. Arm.

coram Ordinib.].

Such were the reasons which induced Arminius to decline entering into conferences of the kind proposed. In what light he regarded the perverse machinations of certain parties at this conjuncture he himself thus declares in a letter to Adrian Borrius, of date July 25, 1605: 'I see right well that my adversaries act in this way to raise a tumult in order that I, accused of being at least the occasion of the disturbance, may be compelled to rush forth from my concealment, and declare myself openly; in which event they seem to promise themselves certain victory. But so much the more on this account will I keep myself at home, and advance those things which in my judgment may best do service to truth, to peace, and to the times; although I know that they would be disappointed of their hope even were I to declare myself openly to them. True, it is an old saving, that to drag a heretic, or a heresy forth to the light, is to confute that heretic or heresy; but this is the boast also of those who chant paeans before the victory. It were hard for them to convict of heresy those things which, with inflated cheeks they vociferate to be heretical. They complain, I understand, that I did not declare to them my opinion, and the arguments on which it rests; and they urge as a pretext for their complaint, that it is my intention to make an unforeseen attack upon the min the National Synod, and to obtrude opinions upon them of which they had not been aware, and to confirm these by arguments, the confutation of which they shall not have had it in their power to premeditate. They think that that assembly ought to be conducted in the same manner as formerly; and are not aware that I, trusting to the goodness of my conscience and my cause, do not shrink from timely inquiry and examination, even to the most rigorous extent.'

Meanwhile, three days after penning these words, the consistory of Leyden, of which he himself too formed a part, and was regarded as a member, appears to have importunately asked of him, at the instigation of certain zealots, a conference respecting his religious views, not unlike that which the delegates of the churches had demanded. In name of the consistory there were delegated to him, on the 28th July, these honourable and distinguished men, Phaedo Broekhoven and Paul Merula — the one professor of history, the other a burgomaster of the city of Leyden, and both elders of the church —

who urged him in gentle terms that he would treat with his colleagues, in the presence of the consistory, concerning those things in the received doctrine to which he took exception. In this way it might be ascertained whether, and in what points, he agreed or disagreed with his colleagues and the other pastors of the Church. They added, however, that if he gave his assent to this petition they would speak with others also respecting the matter; but if not, that no further steps would be taken in the affair. To this Arminius replied almost in the same terms as he had shortly before employed to the deputies of the churches, namely, 'that he could not comply with this demand without the permission of the honourable curators of the Academy; nor could he perceive what benefit would thance accrue to the Church.' These reasons he followed up by others to the same effect, which proved thoroughly satisfactory to these two men; so much so, indeed, that they gave it as their opinion that no further proceedings should be taken in the matter [Ex Arm. declar. coram Ordin. Vid.

prefat. Act. Synod. Dord.—Trigland. Hist.].

His adversaries, nevertheless, determined in no respect whatever to intermit their zeal, ceased not to spread, and beyond measure to exaggerate, the rumours afloat as to the very serious dissensions that had arisen between the professors and the pastors of the Church. The result was, that the time being now at hand at which the annual Synod of the churches of North and South Holland respectively were wont to be held, among the other 'gravamina' [That is grievances, and all matters deemed important, whether of the nature of grievances or not.] (as they are called) which, according to the custom of the churches, are commonly sent beforehand by the several classis, this too had been transmitted by the Classis of Dort: 'Whereas reports prevail that in the Academy and Church of Leyden, certain controversies have arisen concerning the doctrine of the Reformed Churches, the Classis is of opinion that it is necessary that the Synod should deliberate as to the means by which these controversies may be most advantageously and speedily allayed; in order that all schisms and scandals which might thence arise may be seasonably put out of the way, and the union of the Reformed Churches be preserved in contrariety to the calumnies of adversaries.' [Ex prefat. Act.

Synod. Pord.—Uitcnb. Ilist.]. The author of the preface to the Acts of the Synod of Dort, in making mention of this gravamen, further leaves it on record that Arminius took it in the highest degree amiss, and left no pains untaken by which to get it recalled. That it displeased Arminius, indeed, we are not disposed to deny. But assuredly of any pains he took to get this document recalled, there exists, so far as we are aware, no evidence whatever.

Be this as it may, the honourable curators of the Academy, and magistrates of Leyden, suspecting on good grounds that the above-named article of the Classis of Dort aimed solely at this, that Arminius and his followers should be impeached for corrupt doctrine, concentrated all their counsels and efforts on the one object of getting these schemes crushed in the bud. With this view, they called together the professors of theology, and producing the gravamen above-named, they put to them the question, 'Whether controversies of that description had been observed by them?' To this, after they had obtained a reasonable time for deliberation, and had first considered the matter among themselves, and duly weighed it apart, — Gomarus, Arminius, and Trelcatius, unanimously replied, and straightway (on the 10th of August) confirmed the reply, in its written form, with their respective signatures, 'that they could have wished that the Classis of Dort had acted in this matter in a better and more orderly way; among the students, indeed, there was, they believed, more disputation than was agreeable to them; but among themselves, the professors of theology, there was no dissension, as indeed any one might see, in regard to the fundamentals of doctrine. Further, they would do their endeavour to get whatever discussions of that kind had arisen among the students diminished.' This answer was handed in the same day, to the Rev.

John Kuchlinus, Regent of the theological college, who replied that he concurred in what had been advanced by the professors of theology, and subscribed the same declaration [Ex gestis Acad. citatis a Bertio in Orat.

Funeb. in obit. Arm.].

But on what principle Gomarus could prevail on himself to sign this testimony, was to not a few just matter of astonishment. For it was notorious that besides assailing the opinion of Arminius on predestination in a public and sufficiently acrimonious disputation, he had also, and that, too, repeatedly, from the pulpit, exaggerated the importance of this controversy to such a degree as to imply that it was in his estimation fundamental [Ex tractatu quodam Bertii, Belgice conscripto.]. Others, again, inferred from this act of Gomarus, that he was disposed at that time, notwithstanding this difference of opinion, to cultivate a true friendship with Arminius, and would actually have done so, had he not heen prevented by the intemperate clamours of others from prosecuting this aim. That Arminius also cherished the same hope is manifest from the following words extracted from a letter he addressed to Uitenbogaert (on the 7th June, 1605):— 'Between Gomarus and me there is peace; and I have reason to believe it will be steady enough, unless he lend an ear to him who seems to act only for this, that he may not be found to have been a false prophet. On the other hand I will do my best to make my moderation and equanimity manifest to all, that I may have the superiority at once in the goodness of my cause, and in my mode of action.' Nor must we omit in this connexion what is reported by not a few, namely that Gomarus himself was wont at times to declare to his intimate friends with a feeling of regret, 'that he could easily have been induced to cultivate peace with Arminius but for the importunity of the churches and their deputies, which threw an obstacle in the way of this salutary desire.' [Ex Hist. narrat. Synod. Dord. Belg. conscript. a J.

W.].

CHAPTER IX.

ECCLESIASTICAL EXCITEMENT, AND PROCEEDINGS WITH A VIEW TO

A NATIONAL SYNOD; FRESH CALUMNIES AGAINST ARMINIUS. A.D

1605-1607.

A few weeks after the curators of the University had, by convening the professors of theology, succeeded in maintaining Academic peace, the Synod of South Holland, which met at Rotterdam on the 30th August, 1605, proceeded to agitate measures in connexion with this business, of a much more impetuous description. After the delegates from the Classis of Dort had put them in possession of the grounds on which the above-named gravamen had been transmitted, and the deputies of the Synod had in like manner made them aware of the state of the Leyden Academy, and of their interview with Arminius and the rest of the professors, they decided, after mature deliberation, that a timely check ought to be opposed to this growing evil, and that the appropriate remedy ought not to be delayed under the uncertain hope of a National Synod. It was accordingly concluded to institute, by means of their deputies, a very strict inquiry into what articles in particular furnished matter of debate among the theological students in the Leyden Academy; and to request the honourable curators to make it imperative on the professors of theology to declare openly and sincerely their own opinions respecting the same [Vid. prefat. Act. Synod. Dord.].

In fulfilment of this decree, the synodical deputies, Francis Lansbergius, Festus Hommius, and their associates, set out for Leyden, and on the 2nd November handed in nine questions to the curators respecting the points which, as they understood, constituted at this time the main subjects of discussion. They at the same time requested that, in virtue of their authority, the curators would render it imperative on the professors of theology fully to unfold their own opinion on these points. But the honourable curators looked upon this demand as preposterous, inasmuch as the professors themselves had informed them in writing, not long before, of the state and weight of the controversies referred to. They therefore openly declared 'that to this mode of procedure they could by no means lend their sanction;' and added 'that there was no small ground for the hope that a National Synod would be obtained; on which account they judged it to be more advisable to reserve these questions to it, than by further investigation of them to furnish occasion for strife.' [Vid. Declar. Arm. coram, Ord.]. On receiving this answer the deputies further insisted, that by the kind permission of the curators they might be at liberty to put these questions to the professors concerned, in order to discover what answers each of them would voluntarily and spontaneously give; but here they encountered the same repulse.

All these transactions, however, were managed with such secrecy, as respects Arminius, that he was for some time ignorant of the arrival of these deputies in the city, and was only subsequently made aware of it through his friends. By the diligence of these friends he also succeeded in laying his hands upon the very questions which the deputies of the churches had handed in to the curators; and thence snatched occasion to draw up, for the benefit of his disciples, brief answers to these, and to array in opposition to them as many questions in return [Vide sis has quaestiones et Arminii responsa in ejus Eperibus.].

Circumstanced as he was at such a conjuncture, he could not suppress his feelings, but gave vent to them in the following complaint in regard to his position, which occurs in a letter to Uitenbogaert, dated 27th October, 1605:—

'How difficult is it in these inauspicious times, when such vehemence of spirit prevails, to be thoroughly devoted at once to truth and to peace! Were it not that the consciousness of integrity, the favourable judgments of some good men, yea, and the palpable and manifest fruits which I see arising from my labours, reanimate my spirits, I should scarcely at times be able to bear myself erect. But thanks be to God who imparts strength and constancy to my spirit, and makes me comparatively easy whatever may be the issue.' [Arm.

Epist. ad J. Uitenb. 27 Octob. 1605.]

Notwithstanding these annoyances, Arminius [Via Ep. Eccles. p. 149.]

strenuously discharged the duties of his office; and endeavoured, above all, to propagate increasingly the truth, as far as known by him, without noise or contention, to the utmost of his power. For this end he made it his study, on all occasions, to keep himself within the terms of the Confession and Catechism

— at least not to advance anything which might be confuted by these standards, nay which was not fairly and plainly reconcilable therewith. For although in these formularies of consent he had probably observed some things which at times appeared to favour the sentiments opposed to those he had embraced, and which he could have wished to find expressed in terms more closely harmonising with his own opinion, he yet thought he could continue within these terms; and that, under the privilege of a mild interpretation, he ought to soften the harshness of certain phrases, and wait until a fuller interpretation and revision should be applied to them by a National Synod. For he thought that he could act thus in the exercise of the same right as that by which all those followers of Calvin who were subjects of the Emperor of Germany judged that they could lawfully, and with a good conscience, subscribe to the entire Confession of Augsburg, and to all and sundry of the articles it contained [Vid. Epiat. Examen contra Capel. in Oper.

ejus i. Tom. 2. part. p. 168.]. This, however, without the aid of a liberal interpretation was more than they could well do; for between the Augsburg and other Confessions there was so great an air of contradiction that the Genevan divines did not think it advisable to publish them without the antidote of their own interpretations and cautions. Treading in their foot-prints, and rejoicing in the same right, he felt that he was doing nothing whatever unworthy of a Reformed divine if, for the confirmation of his own opinion on Divine predestination, and other heads of the Christian faith, he should call to his aid not only the Sacred Oracles, but also the above-named formularies of consent. It was for this reason that, when about to hold a disputation at one time in his own regular class on the subject of predestination, he ordered the student who was to undertake the part of respondent to shape his theses on this subject in the very words of the Confession [Ex Declar. Arm. coram Ord.].

About that same period he held a very learned disputation on the comparison between the law and the gospel, and on the agreement and difference between the Old Testament and the New; the part of respondent, under his presidency, having fallen on that highly-cultivated youth, and distinguished ornament at an after period to the Leyden Academy and to literature — Peter Cunaeus. Towards the close of this disputation some one happened to object

'that man could not but transgress the law, seeing that the decree of God, which determined that he should transgress, could not be resisted.' Although Arminius was under the necessity of replying to this objection, yet he made it imperative that in future no such statement should be advanced without this or the like protestation: Let no blasphemy be supposed! So offensive, moreover, was that audacious proposition of this student of divinity to some who had been present at the disputation, that one of them, a man of no small authority, shortly after expressed his loathing of it in the presence of Arminius; and gave it as his counsel that things of that sort ought to be checked, and authority interposed against such disgraceful objections. Arminius, however, somewhat excused the deed, declaring that the objector had been so instructed by certain divines; and that authoritative interference was scarcely practicable, on account of the vehemence of some who were of a different, mind [Ex Epist.

Arm.].

Meanwhile he was inspired with a greatly increased measure of firmness and confidence by the very large number of auditors whom the singular grace of his style, both of speaking and teaching, and his lucid interpretation of the Sacred Writings, daily attracted to his public lectures. His private class, moreover, flourished at this time to such a degree, that one class would not have sufficed but for the fear which had taken possession of many, that too much familiarity with him might turn out, at some future period, to be prejudicial to their interests. Hence, as envy is proverbially the evil genius, for the most part, not only of virtue but also of genuine erudition, it can hardly appear surprising to any one if Arminius, by reason of his daily increasing renown for learning, was obliged, in his turn, to encounter this hydra. The extent, at all events, to which, in that particular, Gomarus shared in the infirmity of our common nature, may be inferred from this circumstance: accosting Arminius one day as he was passing out of the academic hall, he threw this in his teeth with abundant bitterness and bile — 'They say you are more learned than Junius.'

About the same time, Peter Plancius, pastor of the church in Amsterdam, inveighed from the pulpit in the most virulent strain against Arminius and his friends and followers, running them down under the name of Coornhertians, Neo-Pelagians, and as far worse than Pelagius himself. So effervescent was he, that he appeared, even to vulgar minds, to have excited himself into extravagance, so as to connect things together which bore to each other no just relation of sequence or coherence. Others, too, after his example, either incensed by an inveterate hatred against Arminius, or impelled by the sort of pious solicitude with which they embraced the received doctrine, began to agitate before the people, in the vernacular tongue, those questions which had furnished themes of more subtle disputation in the benches of the Academy: and this they did with egregious departures from the truth, and with minds as little as possible attuned to the work of meekly edifying the Christian people [Ex Epist. Arm.—Vid. Respons. ad Epist. Minist. Walachriens. p. 9.].

Some assiduously impressed it upon the promiscuous multitude that the doctrine of the Belgic Confession, sealed with the blood of many martyrs, was being called in question; others that a motley religion was in the course of being drawn up, and that it was in contemplation to introduce a system of libertinism. On the other hand, Arminius, finding himself under the imperative necessity of vindicating his own innocence, both publicly and privately, pleaded his cause at this conjuncture, in a remarkably calm and placid spirit; for (to use his own words) he 'reckoned this to be by far the noblest kind of revenge, to bring it about, by means of well-doing, that they should have the worse who spurned at proffered friendship and fraternity.' Moreover, in order to possess the minds of the students with the genuine love of peace, he judged that nothing ought more to be impressed upon them than that they should endeavour to distinguish, according to the standard of the Sacred Word, not only between truth and falsehood, but also between the greater and less degrees in which different articles of religion are to be held as essential

[Ex. Epist. Arm.].

Amid all this excitement Arminius prosecuted his Academic prelections with unabated activity; and having brought to a close the exposition of Jonah, he entered upon a course of lectures on Malachi about the commencement of the year ensuing, 1606.

On the 8th of February, he resigned his Rectorate according to the [Ex. Epist.

Arm.] usual order; on which occasion he delivered that celebrated oration on

'Religious Dissension,' in which he unfolds its nature and effects, causes and remedies, with such freedom of speech as the weight of the subject itself, and the agitated circumstances of the church seemed to require; In particular, as the remedy commonly considered to be the most efficacious for allaying theological dissensions was a convention of the parties at variance, (which the Greeks call a synod, the Latins, a council,) he unfolded, on that same occasion, fully and piously, the principle on which a council of the kind referred to, ought to be constituted, so as to warrant the just and rational expectation that it will issue in results of the most salutary character.

Nor could he charge himself, by any means, with having causelessly selected this as the theme of his oration; for he had long been aware that with the great majority of the clergy, and at this very time, nothing was more an object of desire than that the States-General should permit to be again summoned a National Synod, which, in former times, was wont to be convened once every three years, but had now for a very considerable time been suspended. For (to trace this matter a little further back) it was already turned twenty years since the Earl of Leceister, despising, and all but trampling under foot, the authority of the fathers of our country, had ordered a council of this description to be convoked at the Hague. On that occasion, when the great body of the clergy had lent their most zealous aid to those who were hatching revolutionary schemes, and aiming a deadly blow at the liberty of the Dutch Republic, they had, not without reason, been rebuked and admonished by the public voice of the States, 'that, content with having lost Flanders, by traducing and calumniating the administration of the rulers, under the deceptive show of religion, and throwing a cloak over perfidy, they should abstain from bringing about the loss of Holland in the same way.' [Vid. Em.

Meterani Hist. Belgice conscript. et Hoofdii Hist.]. It was the recollection, indeed, of that calamitous period, and the apprehension lest, perchance, certain turbulent zealots, under pretext of religion, should attempt anything anew that might detract from public authority, which long restrained the illustrious and mighty States from afterwards giving their assent to the renewed petition of the ecclesiastics for a National Synod. About the year 1597, however, when controversies had arisen in various places, particularly at Gouda, Hoorn, and Medenblick, not only respecting Divine Predestination, but also concerning the authority of the Belgic Confession, and Palatine Catechism, and the right and orthodox interpretation of certain phrases, the States of the province of Holland at length took the lead in granting the pastors under their jurisdiction permission to hold a synod;—for this end, in particular, 'that the Belgic Confession of Faith should be revised, and that it should be carefully considered in what way, most fitly, according to the word of God, the true doctrine and concord of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, might be vindicated, preserved, and promoted, and the dissensions that had arisen be allayed.'

But although, so many years before the name of Arminius had begun to acquire celebrity in the Leyden Academy, the rulers of Holland had consented to the synod, still the States of the other provinces resisted the project —

those of Utrecht being the stoutest and the longest to hold out. But seeing that the Dutch professors and pastors who differed at this time on the subject of predestination sought some support, each for his own opinion, in the words of the Confession and Catechism; and that these same formularies of consent did not define with sufficient clearness the questions agitated on either side; and that this present exigency of the Reformed cause seemed, in consequence, to require a more formal convention of the churches, by the effort and intervention of the men of greatest influence (including the name of Uitenbogaert, as he himself cheerfully owns) it was brought about that these rulers of Utrecht also subscribed to the wish so generally entertained. Leave, accordingly, was at length obtained (on the 15th March) from the States-General to convoke a National Synod on the selfsame terms as those on which, eight years previously, the rulers of Holland and Westfriesland had given their sanction to its being held. But here is the very decree, in express terms:—

'The States-General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, having considered and carefully weighed the reasons proposed and exhibited in their assembly both orally and in writing, in name of the Christian Reformed churches of the Netherlands, in order that permission should be granted to them for convening a National Synod of the said churches on the grounds set forth in the written petition referred to, after mature deliberation, have granted permission that it should be held, and by this same instrument they hereby grant permission. Wherefore, also, it hath pleased them that said National Synod be convoked in name of their illustrious Lords, as being the lawful magistrates — the protectors and defenders in these realms of the Christian Reformed religion — and to whom, in consequence, that right belongs; and that, as soon as said illustrious Lords, with the pastors of churches (whom it has been resolved to summon for this object on the very first opportunity) shall have communicated among themselves, and deliberated respecting the mode of holding the synod, and concerning the fit place and time, the said National Synod, with the revision of the Confession and Catechism of said churches, and of the ecclesiastical constitution heretofore in use among them shall (as has been wont every time to be done in such assemblies) be so instituted and conducted, in the name and fear of the Lord, that the fruit thence to be expected — namely, the confirmation of true piety among the inhabitants of these realms — may be abundantly realised. And all these things according to the rule and pattern of God's Sacred Word, to His glory, and for the safety of the Republic and the Church.'

We have thought it proper to introduce into our narrative this, the express form of the public decree, in order that the origin of the contentions with Arminius and his followers that arose respecting it, and the main reason why this convention of the churches was deferred, may be the more readily discerned. For the deputies of the churches took it very much amiss, that in the missive containing the public decree of the illustrious States special mention should be made of a contemplated revision of the Confession, Catechism, and ecclesiastical canons. Nay, more; even prior to its publication, and towards the close of the preceding year (30th November, 1605) they had begged, in a written petition, that the convocation of this synod should be instituted in the manner sanctioned by former usage and in general terms.

They affirmed 'that by that single clause the entire doctrine comprehended in these summaries was called in question; that by this edict injury was done to these sacred canons of the Reformed faith, which were formerly received with so great applause; that the term revision was forensic, nor was the act of revision ever insisted on unless when the authorised sentiment was not acquiesced in, but rather a demand made for its being retracted or changed; that by the insertion of the clause referred to there was reason to fear that those who were striving after a change of doctrine would be rendered more daring, and would conclude that power was conceded to them by public authority to press innovation to any extent.' [Vid praefat. Act. Synod Dord.].

But a variety of reasons, on the other hand, and these of the gravest character, were advanced by not a few in vindication of the decree of the States. Thus it was contended, 'that it was idle to dispute about the word revision, since, taken not in its forensic but in its more general acceptation, it denoted any kind of re-examination. But taking the word in this stricter sense, it was not the case that the once authorised opinion was always changed by revision, but, on the contrary, it was sometimes thereby confirmed. The illustrious States of Holland had inserted in their decree, passed eight years before, the word resumption. In most acts of synods, even prior to the public decree of the year 1597, mention was made of a repetition. Nay, more; that distinguished defender of the Reformed doctrine, Caspar Heidanus, was not afraid to put on the title of that Catechism which he published at Antwerp in the year 15—, the words correction and emendation. At all events, the thing itself denoted by this word was of right and with good reason demanded by the fathers of their country and the supreme patrons of the Church. The sacred Scripture alone was placed beyond the liability of revision; nor was it right to arrogate this privilege to human writings. This, Beza, Zanchius, Olevianus, and other leaders of the Reformed religion — yea, and the very authors, too, of the Belgic Confession — openly professed. Even now there were extant, and could easily be produced, letters of the distinguished Saravia, celebrated among the original compilers of the Confession, who testifies that of those who applied their hand to this work it never came into the mind of one to make of it a rule of faith. In all the synods held in France a commencement was made by re-reading the Confession and soliciting expressions of opinion upon it [Press. Declar. p. 41. 42.—Vid Grot. Piet. Ord.

p. 52]. The Augustan, yea and the Anglican and Helvetic Confessions, had been changed; and much more reasonable were it to try whether nothing could be amended in that Confession which was originally composed by no Synod whatever, but had been put together by some pious men, at a preeminently troublous time, in great haste, and for this end only, that it should serve the purpose of an apology to a hostile king. The same remark applied to the Catechism, inasmuch as the very leaders themselves of the Belgic Church had not drawn it up, but (as is wont to be done in cases of sudden necessity) had borrowed it from others. None otherwise did the famous Piscator judge; for certain strictures and animadversions of his on several questions of the Palatine Catechism were still extant [Vid. has stricturas inter Epist. Eccles. p.

166.]. Even granting that after the scrutiny of forty years and more, nothing could be detected in the writings above-named which was either deficient or redundant, and which admitted of being expressed if not more truly, at least more fitly, and in a way better adapted to promote ecclesiastical peace; still the lawful examination of them would be attended with this benefit, that it would be evident to the world that the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands had not slid into that form of doctrine which they followed by accident or fashion, but in the exercise of reason and discrimination. At the name time they would, by an illustrious testimony, give publicity to the fact that these formularies were estimated by them at their true value, and not more; and what was of prime importance, the liberty thug admitted in its own place and time, and restrained within the limits of order, would interpose an obstacle to the license of private contradiction.'

But these and other reasons of the like kind by no means availed to prevent the great mass of the adversaries of Arminius from vehemently assailing, on every opportunity, the above form of convening the Synod. Nay, the ecclesiastical deputies transmitted a copy of it, with an accompanying letter (dated 19th April), to the churches of each several province, in which they signified how strenuously they had exerted themselves to get the above-named clause omitted [Via. Praefat. Act. Synod. Dord.]. From that time, it began to be carped at, and to be criticised by the churches with more acrimony than was meet. Foremost, however, in zeal to take up this business was the Synod of South Holland, held three months after, in the month of August, at Gorcum. For when the deputies of the churches had reported to it what steps they had taken in the matter of the National Synod, and what had been determined by the illustrious States, it seemed good to this assembly to enjoin on these deputies, 'that, duly weighing the heads of the public decree respecting the Synod, they should not only see to it that justice be done to the decision of the illustrious States, but should also take care that nothing be done to the prejudice of the churches.' The Synod moreover declared, 'that even if it were judged proper to revise the Confession and Catechism in the way and mode hitherto in use in a National Synod, they nevertheless wished that those who were to be summoned to that meeting at which the place and manner of holding the National Synod would necessarily fall to be considered, should be instructed to ask of the States-general, in name of the churches, that, for reasons above specified, the forementioned clause be struck out of the circulars of convocation, and that other words of milder import, and less likely to beget offence, might be substituted in its place.

This same Synod besides resolved, that injunction be laid on all the pastors of the churches of South Holland, nay also, on the professors of sacred literature in the Academy of Leyden, to peruse and examine with all diligence the Confession and Catechism hitherto in use in those realms. It was further matter of deliberation whether it would be expedient that the strictures of the ministers on the above named books should be brought up, in the first instance, before this particular Synod and its deputies, or whether these had better be reserved to the National Synod [Act. Synod. Gorcom. Art. 4.].

Sufficient reasons were not wanting to have induced the persuasion that such anticipatory judgments of particular synods were altogether vain, and would not be free of hazard; and Uitenbogaert himself, in a very earnest discussion on that subject into which he entered with the president of this assembly, John Becius, showed, in many ways, under how great difficulties that ill-timed investigation which many were urging did labour, and how much it militated against the express decree and intention of the States [Vid. Resp. ad Epist.

Minist. Walach. p. 16.—Epist. Eccles. p. 170.]. Notwithstanding all this, it was decreed in the same Synod, that, 'if, in these writings of the Confession and Catechism, any one had observed aught worthy of remark, he should signify the same, and set it forth in good and solid reasons and arguments, as speedily as practicable; and that if possible, before the next meeting of the classis.' This decision, in spite of the objections of those who thought it wrong that the fulfilment of that ecclesiastical decree should be circumscribed within so small a portion of time, remained fixed and valid. By and by, too, this same Synod resolved to advise, by letter, the other particular churches and synods of the United Provinces, to watch with all diligence over this business, the care of which it had itself undertaken, and to urge every one of the ministers of their respective classes to the serious and thorough examination of the Confession and Catechism [Vid. Epist. Eccles.]. And finally, the province of communicating on this subject with the professors of sacred literature, and the regents of the theological college, was, in name of this Synod, consigned to John Uitenbogaert, William Coddaeus, Nathaniel Marlandus, and Egbert AEmilius.

Meanwhile, and shortly before these things were (with very special reference to Arminius and his followers), determined upon by the Synod of Gorcum, the following circumstance furnished a handle for stirring fresh strife against him.

It happened ill the course of a disputation held under his presidency, on the subject of the divinity of the Son, in which he had undertaken to defend what was at once the general and the orthodox opinion on this pre-eminently important doctrine of the Christian faith, that some one of the students urged, in opposition to the theses he had exposed to public scrutiny, that 'the Son of God was autotheos, and therefore had his essence from himself, and not from the Father.' Arminius replied that the word autotheos was not contained in the sacred volume; still, considering that it had been employed by Epiphanius and others, of the ancient as well as modern orthodox divines, it was not to be utterly rejected, provided only it were rightly understood. But according to its etymology it might be taken in a twofold sense, to denote either one who is truly God, or such a one as is God of himself. According to the former signification, it could be admitted; but taken in the latter sense, it stood opposed to the sacred volume, and to orthodox antiquity.

On the other hand, however, the student tenaciously held to his point; boldly asserting that according to the second signification pre-eminently the term in question was applicable to the Son of God; and that the essence of the Father could not, except improperly, be said to be communicated to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; but that rightly and properly could it be said that the essence of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit was common. This position, too, he maintained with the more confidence and spirit that he had as an authority for his opinion the celebrated Trelcatius; for in his Common-places, lately published, he had expounded to the same effect his sentiments respecting the Sacred Trinity. Wherefore, Arminius, deeming it his duty not to leave the truth unvindicated, by virtue of the authority of the office with which he had been invested, spiritedly rejoined, that 'The opinion thus advanced was one altogether new and unheard of in the ancient Greek as well as Latin Church.

The ancients had always maintained that the Son had his deity from the Father by eternal generation. The opinion now advanced laboured under most serious difficulties. From it there followed not only Sabellianism [Sabellius, who lived about the middle of the third century, denied all distinction of persons in the Trinity, allowing only a distinction of modes and manifestations.—TR.], the Son being made to occupy the place of the Father, as having his essence from none; but it further followed that the way was thereby paved to Tritheism, and that there were just as many Gods held as there were collateral persons supposed. The Unity in Trinity of the Deity had been maintained by the ancient divines of the Church against anti-Trinitarians, solely on the ground of origin, and of order according to origin. On the contrary, to have deity from himself was repugnant to the definition of son; and that no relation could be involved in any thing which was contrary to the definition of that thing.' [Vide sis fusius de hoc negotio disserentem Armin. in declar. sua coram Ord. Item Arm. Resp. ad 31. Artic.]

Thus far reasoned Arminius, who, by the production of these and other arguments of the same kind, flattered himself that he was defending the Catholic opinion on this question, and consulting best for the glory both of the Father and of the Son. Nay, more; he had stirred this affair with the greater confidence that he had rather persuaded himself of the entire concurrence with him on this point of Gomarus, who, not long after the publication of the Common-places of Trelcatius, had, in a public disputation, impugned his forms of expression respecting the Sacred Trinity, and further refuted his opinion in his own private class. Nevertheless, this very disputation of Arminius furnished fresh occasion and material for the unjust suspicions which malevolent parties entertained concerning him; and the rumour everywhere spread that he entertained erroneous views respecting the Sacred Trinity and the Divinity of the Son. But this he accounted his peculiar infelicity; and he lamented that prejudice should prevail to such an extent that, if any discussion arose, forthwith the entire blame was heaped upon him, even when asserting the views most thoroughly received; while those, on the other hand, were excused and commended who had furnished occasion of strife by their novel and most extravagant modes of expression. To him this appeared nothing less than monstrous; nor did there seem to exist any ground on which, in consequence of the above-named disputation, he could justly and reasonably be suspected of hatching aught that was heretical. So far from this, he testifies (in one of his letters, dated 1st September, 1606) that he had taught nothing whatever on the doctrine in question but what rested on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures, and of the ancient as well as modern divines; and, moreover, that on this point there was nothing which he wished corrected in the opinion received by the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. Nay more; in this matter he could adduce as on his side the guide and teacher of his youth, Beza; who, in his preface to the Dialogues of Athanasius concerning the Trinity, makes an excuse for Calvin for not having observed with sufficient accuracy the distinction between these two statements: the Son is by himself (per se) and the Son is from himself (a se).

Much about the same time the subject of our memoir was subjected to a calumny not unlike the one we have just narrated. It arose from the following circumstance:— In a public disputation On the person of the Son, in the course of which he very learnedly showed how the economy of our salvation was administered by the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit, Arminius made the admonitory remark that strict regard ought to be paid to that order which is everywhere observed in the Holy Scriptures; and that it ought to be distinctly considered what proper parts in that economy are ascribed to the Father, what to the Son, and what to the Holy Ghost. The spirit of detraction, besides, had gathered boldness from the fact that several passages of the Old and New Testaments usually cited in support of the consubstantial or co-essential Trinity had more than once been explained by him as having another reference. But he trusted that it would be no difficult matter to persuade all who were capable of forming a candid judgment, that from such data nothing could with any semblance of truth be inferred that was really at variance with the Christian faith. For in regard to the first of these occasions of calumniating him [Vid. epist. Arm. ad Hyppol. a Collib.], he deemed it a vain handle, seeing that to all who had learned from the Sacred Word that the Father had in the Son reconciled the world to himself, and was administering through the Holy Spirit the word of reconciliation, it could not fail to be super-abundantly evident that, in the scheme of human salvation, an order must be discerned among the persons of the Trinity, and care taken not to confound the parts severally attributed to them, — unless any one chooses to step into the heresy of the Patripassionists [Those who denied all distinction between the persons of the Trinity, were called Patripassiptoi (Patripassionists) in the west, and Sabilliatoi (Sabellians) in the east.' Hagenbach's Hist. Doct. Vol. I.

p. 245—Edinb. 1846.—TR.]. Nor, on the other hand, did he think that greater pains were called for in refutation of what was objected to him about explaining somewhat differently a few passages of Holy Writ. For even if in this respect he had sinned, there stood convicted of the same crime Calvin himself, who, in this direction, had used great freedom, if ever man had, and yet had been defended by the celebrated Paraeus against the treatise of Hunnius entitled Calvin a Judaizer. But what the opinion of Arminius was on the sacred Trinity, and how unfairly some accused him about that period of Arianism, Socinianism, and other crimes of the same description, the candid reader may judge for himself from his very scholarly theses on this article of the Christian Faith. The aim and method, moreover, which, in the treatment of this subject, he proposed to himself, he (in his reply to the 31 articles) declares in the following terms:— 'Of those who know me, the most part know with how great fear and how anxious a. conscience I handle that sublime doctrine of a Trinity of Persons. How little, in explaining this article, I delight, either in inventing for myself, or in adopting as already invented by others, novel modes of expression, unknown to Scripture and orthodox antiquity, my entire method of teaching demonstrates. How cheerfully I even bear with those who speak differently, provided the meaning they intend be just, my hearers are prepared to testify.' Still further, with the view of dissipating entirely all suspicion of Socinianism, he openly declared in the course of that period (in s letter dated 1st September 1606), that 'so far was he from being obnoxious to this charge, that he rather cherished the hope, if the Synod would only lend him a willing ear, of being able to contribute certain arguments which made for the more effectual confutation of the Samosetans

[Or Anti Trinitarians. Paul of Samoseta held views similar to those of Sabellius, and lived about the same period.—TR.], or at least for the more easy liquidation of their objections and reasonings.' Nay more, Arminius, as his disciple John Narsius testifies, subjected, not long after, certain of the leading and most celebrated doctrines of Socinus, but particularly his book concerning the Saviour, to public and formal 'refutation, and that so vigorously, so elaborately, so solidly, that probably no one before or after him, ever did so with more effect [Vid. Narsii Epist. ad J. Sandium x. sept. 1612

script. inter Epist. Eccles. p. 327.].

But, dismissing these things, let us now revert to the delegates of the Gorcum Synod, and to the part they played with Arminius and his colleagues.

Uitenbogaert, then, having returned from the camp at Wesel, the four men appointed to this business proceeded to Leyden in the month of December, and having read in due form the Synodal decree to each of the professors, they courteously asked them to comply with the petition of the Church.

Gomarus was the first on whom they waited: he expressed his thanks for the pains expended on this business, and lavished the highest laudations on the Synod for having consulted for the tranquillity of the churches and for the maintenance of pure doctrine. But he declared that he felt reluctant to give any full or definite reply to the principal head of the Synod's demand, until he had taken counsel on this business with his colleagues; and therefore it seemed to him advisable that through their Dean (Arminius) the Theological Faculty ought to be convened. The answer of Trelcatius was to the same effect. On the other hand, the delegates rejoined, that to summon the Faculty just named appeared to them, to be altogether unnecessary; and pressed them for a further reply. At length, having given them time for deliberation, they next waited on Arminius, who, after hearing their petition, with great confidence replied, that he 'gave thanks to the eternal God for having suggested to the assembled brethren a decree of this description, — so thoroughly salutary and Christian. He had for his part hitherto given himself, and would still give himself, with all diligence, to the investigation of the Confession and Catechism of the Belgic churches, as to a duty to which he acknowledged himself bound not only in the name of God, but also, at this time more particularly, by the requirement of this illustrious assembly. Further, as to handing in animadversions, if he had any such, he would at the fit time deliberate and do what the occasion and the state of affairs would permit.'

[Uitenb. Hist.]. On receiving this answer, the delegates next told Arminius the suggestion of Gomarus about convening the Theological Faculty, and asked his mind on this matter. Arminius then inquired 'if the Synod wished them to examine the above-named documents together, and at once, in full college assembled, and to signify to the Synod their opinion respecting them in name of the entire Faculty; or if, on the other hand, they wished each of the Professors to submit his opinion and observations singly and apart?' To this the delegates replied, that their impression was that the latter and not the former was the wish of the Synod; on which Arminius straightway rejoined

'that there was no propriety in calling the entire Faculty together about a business the charge of expediting which had been committed by the Synod to each of them apart.' Accordingly, the others, his colleagues, not deeming it expedient to give further trouble, at length intimated, both of them, 'that they would not fail to pay all respect to the petition of their brethren, and would subject to a renewed examination those formularies of consent, — not as if they cherished any doubt concerning any article contained in them, but solely on the principle of complying with the mandate of the Synod.' At last they began to treat with the regents also of both colleges— Peter Bertius, and Daniel Colonius [Bertius was the Regent of the Dutch, and Colonius of the Walloon (or French) College.—TR.]. The former briefly replied 'that he would yield compliance with the Synod's decree to the best of his ability.' The other, however, declared, 'that he would follow the decision decreed — or yet to be decreed — by the Walloon Synod.'

In the meantime the rumour of these growing contentions in the Netherlands reached the ears also of foreigners, including men of great name. Nor were there wanting those in France, England, and other countries, who expressed their solicitude for the peace of the Church in Holland. Deserving of special mention on this account is that illustrious light of France and champion of the Reformed cause, Philip De Mornay, Lord of Plessis, a man most zealous, if ever man was, for the interests of Christianity and the promotion of peace.

This shows itself in a brief letter written by that most distinguished man to the very learned Tilenus, on the first of January, 1607, into which, also, he introduces a reference to Arminius himself in the following terms, which we translate from the French:— 'As for Doctor Arminius, I have certainly heard men the most noble and honoured pronounce his praise in the highest and most cordial terms. Doctor Buzenvallius has promised to furnish me with that treatise a compend of which you have presented in your letter. Would to God that each of us may contain himself within the bounds of Scripture, and not travel beyond it, that we may be able with combined energy to assault the idolatry, superstition, and tyranny of Rome. Let us, at all events, bear with one another in these profound mysteries, in which there is always room to learn, and doubtless also to take exception, expound them with as scrupulous circumspection as you may. Opinions of this sort, accordingly, I maintain with moderation and sobriety; and I hold that those who propound them, if they only proceed in their investigation of them according to the rule of our religion, ought to be treated with prudence and lenity.' [Vid. Epist. Eccles. p. 179. Ep.

xcvii.]. Thus far writes the most noble Lord of Plessis. Had his counsels, so singularly pacific, been only complied with at that time, it would certainly have fared better at a subsequent period with the Church and Academy of Holland.

But at this critical conjuncture, when most of all Arminius stood in need of the counsel of friends, he sustained, early in the spring, a severe calamity in the much lamented and premature decease of John Halsberg, one of the ministers of Amsterdam, whom for many years he had loved most ardently, and as if he had been a brother. How heavily at the time this trial pressed upon his spirits, the following words will show:— 'I had previously, indeed (writes Arminius, 3d May, 1607), received intelligence of the illness of John Halsberg, that most eminent brother in Christ, and faithful friend; but the vigour of his nature, and the season of the year, led me to cherish the hope of his recovery, which made me the less anxious on his account; If, however, I could on any ground have foreboded that he was so suddenly to depart from this life, I should not have omitted to render him the last personal offices of Christian regard. But this God has not granted me, — a circumstance which, over and above the grief I justly feel for the death of that most affectionate man, affects my mind in no small degree. But justly do you remark that he has gone before: we shall every one of us follow, each in his own order, — the thought of which is constantly impressed upon my mind by a catarrh which now assails me at no rare intervals, affecting sometimes the chest, and sometimes other internal parts. He who is ready to administer final judgment on all mortals has sent this as a warning; and thereby he orders me to moderate the grief I feel for the decease of my friend, whom, perhaps, after not many years I shall follow.' [Ex Epist. Arm. ad Seb. Egb. 3 Maii. 1607.

script.].

These words of Arminius we the more readily introduce as containing not only a testimony of his singular affection for Halsberg, and of a friendship never interrupted by a single difference; but also a sort of prophecy, or rather presentiment, of his own death, which happened in the course of two years after.

CHAPTER X.

CONVENTION AT THE HAGUE TO ARRANGE THE PRELIMINARIES OF A NATIONAL SYNOD; MISREPRESENTATION OF ARMINIUS AND HIS

ADHERENTS FOR THE OPINIONS THEY THERE EXPRESSED; HIS

LETTERS TO DRUSIUS AND HYPPOLITUS A COLLIBUS. A.D. 1607, 1608.

Having given these things some brief and incidental notice, let us now proceed to trace further the state of the agitated Church, and the progress of the hostile feeling of which Arminius was the object. Towards the close, then, of the month of February, the deputies of the Synods of South and North Holland had presented a petition to the States-General, in which they asked permission of them to hold an ecclesiastical convention for the purpose of paving the way to a National Synod. Leave was granted, and the 22nd day of May was appointed for this convention. Preintimation having been given by the States-General, to the States of the several provinces, these, each in their own name, summoned to the Hague certain pastors and doctors of more distinguished note, to obtain their opinions and advice as to the form and mode in which the Synod should be held.

Accordingly, on the day signified by the States General, the following presented themselves at the Hague. From Guelderland, John Leo and Fontanus; from Holland, Doctors Gomarus and Arminius, together with John Becius, Uitenbogaert, Helmichius and Hermann Gerhards; from Zealand, Hermann Faukelius and Henry Brandius; from the province of Utrecht, Everard Boot, and Henry Jansen the younger; from Friesland, Sybrandus Lubberti and John Bogermann, from Overyssel, Thomas Goswinus; and by and by, also, from the city of Groningen and from Amelandt, John Acronius and J. Nicasius. To these the illustrious States immediately submitted in writing eight questions relating to the proper order and mode in which the Synod should be held, with the request that after due consideration they would hand in their opinions, also in writing, and that too, if possible, with one consent; but that, failing this, each should draw out his own opinions apart. In the discussion and examination of these questions (which Uitenbogaert, in his Ecclesiastical History, has narrated at large) several days were consumed in the Presbytery Hall, at the Hague. After a variety of debates on one side and the other, it was at last unanimously agreed and declared, 'that, in regard to the time, it was necessary that the Synod should be convoked as nearly as possible at the beginning of the following summer, in the year 1608. With respect to the place, that the most convenient locality for holding the Synod would be the city of Utrecht. With respect to the mode, that the gravamina to be treated of in the Synod be reported by the several Provincial Synods to the National one; that for each particular Synod four pastors, with two elders, be deputed by vote; but that men distinguished for erudition, theological attainment, and piety, might be deputed in place of elders, although not invested with ecclesiastical office; that to this Synod there should be invited not only the churches in the United Provinces that speak the two languages, (Dutch and French,) but those also of the Dutch nation which are dispersed beyond the Dutch confines, or are congregated for themselves under the cross of persecution elsewhere; that their high mightinesses, the States-General, be humbly requested to send to the contemplated Synod delegates of their own, professing the Reformed religion, who might be willing, in their name, to take cognisance of its order; that professors of theology be also called to that Synod; and that in addition to those who are to be delegated by the churches, it be allowable for other ministers to be present at this Synod, in accordance with the usual practice in particular Synods.' [Via. praefat. Act.

Dord. Synod—Uitenb. Hist. p. 349.].

But while on these and some other points there was unanimous consent, on certain other questions, on which the hinge of the matter turned, there was a conflict of opinion.

First, a debate was stirred respecting the judge of controversies on points of doctrine: that is to say, whether it should be the prerogative of the few ministers deputed by the churches to determine doctrinal controversies by a peremptory decision; or whether, prior to that decision by which all the ministers (if they wish to retain their office) should be bound to stand or fall, the deputing ministers also should not be informed, heard, and their votes, too, asked respecting the point in debate. For the former opinion, declared the greater part of the brethren; but for the latter, Arminius and Uitenbogaert, and with them the deputies from the province of Utrecht, — maintaining, as they did, that by the name Synod ought to be understood, not those delegated only, but also, and much more, the parties delegating [Via. Epist. Eccles. p.

193.].

A second point of difference concerned the rule according to which it was right that the determination should be made. This was occasioned by the sixth question, proposed by the States, viz., 'Whether it was not right that those to be delegated to the Synod should be bound to express their own opinion freely, and not be held to anything, save the Divine Word alone?' To this question, Arminius, and those who adhered to him, directly answered, it is right. But in this reply the other brethren by no means acquiesced. For although they did not venture to deny that the Divine Word was the test of doctrinal controversies, still, suspecting I know not what snake to lurk under that question of the States, before hazarding their own reply to it, they stirred a further question with Arminius and the others, namely, whether the arbiters of controversy should reckon themselves so bound to the Word of God as not to be at liberty to appeal, at the same time, to the Confession of the Belgic churches? To which, in name of his party, Arminius replied, 'that he, for his part, acknowledged and received the Confession as a formula of consent, but not as a rule of faith; so that if it, or any part or particle of it, should chance to come upon the anvil of discussion, no regard whatever ought to be had to it, while subjected to this trial, but the judgment respecting it, too, ought to be drawn from the Word of God alone. Nay more, judges of this description, that they may be able to pronounce sentence with the more freedom, ought to be released entirely, during that judicial process, from the subscription by which they had once bound themselves; — but with this express stipulation and caution, that meanwhile, throughout the course of such investigation and trial, it be allowable for no one in the Church or Academy to advance anything, in public or private, which may contravene the Confession.'

Thirdly, and finally, with reference to the question which the States had couched in these general terms, 'What further may it be expedient to do in regard to the convocation of a National Synod, that the most salutary results may thence accrue to the Church?' The most of the brethren were of opinion that the Belgic Confession and Catechism might be revised, indeed, in the Synod, if the Synod itself, for just reasons, deemed this necessary; but that the States be requested to strike out of their circular of citation, for the sake of the tranquillity of the churches, that clause concerning revision, which seemed to give offence to some, and a license of innovating to others; and that these, or some such words, be substituted in its place: That a Synod be convened for the confirmation, harmonious reception, and propagation of the pure and orthodox doctrine; for preserving and establishing the peace and good order of the Church; and, in fine, for promoting true piety among the inhabitants of these realms.

In defence of this opinion many reasons were advanced which, when others tried to repel, adducing several arguments to the contrary, on the ground of which it appeared to them that no alteration whatever ought to be made in the circular referred to, by and by the question began to be mooted and discussed concerning the necessity of revision itself; — Arminius, Uitenbogaert, and the two Utrecht ministers maintaining the affirmative, while the rest thought that this should be left for the Synod itself to determine. The greater part exclaimed, 'that the doctrine of the Reformed Church, sanctioned by the support of so many most weighty men, and sealed with the blood of so many thousands of martyrs, would, by an investigation of this sort, be called in doubt, and that this would give rise, not only to tumults, and stumblings, yea, and shipwreck of consciences, within the Church, but also to calumnies and reproaches beyond its pale.' To these reasons, moreover, they added certain offensive eulogiums of the books, the revision of which they were discussing, which came little short of a superseding of the Sacred Scripture. Gomarus declared 'that he received the Word of God, indeed, as the primary rule of faith, but the Confession and Catechism for the secondary rule.' In this statement, J. Bogermann, minister of the church at Leeuwarden, also expressed his concurrence, and did not hesitate, on the same occasion, repeatedly to declare 'that the Sacred Scriptures ought to be interpreted according to the Confession and Catechism.' [Vid. lib. cuititulus, Orig. et Progress. Ecclesiastic. Dissid. in Belg. Belgice script. p. 19.]. How completely these words (to be attributed to undue heat of debate, and not approved of by all his own party) tore up the basis of the entire Reformation, aud ran foul of the seventh article of the Belgic Confession itself, was enough, and more than enough, demonstrated by Arminius and his friends. They further strenuously contended for the revisal decided upon by the States; urging on a variety of grounds how accordant this was to reason, and how necessary, moreover, as matters then stood.

Arminius, in particular, maintained this position, and vigorously defended it against the objections of brethren. 'For as to what was advanced about the danger of doctrine being called into doubt, this,' he contended, 'was in the highest degree offensive; seeing that the thing to be discussed was not the Sacred text, but a human composition, which contained errors, and might therefore justly and properly be tried by the touch-stone of heavenly truth. It was to no purpose to obtrude the authority of divines and martyrs. For, besides that it was possible for even them also to have erred, a distinction must be maintained between the different things which the Confession of the Belgic churches contains. For some things are to be referred to the foundation of faith and of salvation, but other things are reared on that foundation, and therefore, of themselves, are not indispensably necessary to eternal life. The former, it is true, had been approved by the unanimous consent of all the Reformers, and confirmed by the martyrs' blood; but not by any means the latter: nay, in regard to these controversies, at present in agitation, no one of the martyrs probably was ever asked his opinion. The fear, too, that disturbances would perhaps arise from the revisal referred to, was one to which divines truly Reformed ought to attach no great importance. For, this reason admitted, it was then with the best right that the Papists formerly left no stone unturned with the view of preventing the doctrine received in the Church for so many centuries back, from being called into doubt, and subjected to fresh examination. Nay more, if Luther, Zwingle, and the other leaders of the Reformed Church, had attributed so much weight to considerations like these, they would never have addressed themselves to a work of such great difficulty, and so full of danger, as the Reformation, and to the serious investigation of the Popish doctrine.' [Vide sis has rationes fusius postea ab Arminio deductas in Declar. sua coram Ord.]

The matter having thus been fully argued on both sides, the great majority of the Convention persisted not the less in harping every now and then on that one string, namely, the offence which they declared there was reason to apprehend from the insertion of the fore-named clause in the letters of citation, till at last Arminius, and those who adhered to him, desirous of gratifying the rest, and more solicitous about the thing itself, than the formality, as they called it, gave their consent to the omission of the clause, only that this should be done without implying the omission of the revisal itself.

These deliberations being ended, and all results collected, a document was drawn up, and signed by the hands of all, embodying both the opinions in which they agreed, and the opinions in which they differed, which was presented on the first of June to the assembly of the States: appended was a declaration, on the part of all, that they were ready at the will and command of their High Mightinesses to explain more at large their opinions briefly exhibited in that document, and to fortify them with the reasons on which they respectively depended.

Before taking leave of this ecclesiastical Convention, I must by no means here omit to state that a certain sinister rumour concerning Arminius, occasioned by the holding of this conference, spread out far and wide, to the effect that he had been entreated, with the utmost importunity, by the brethren then assembled, that he would not hesitate to unfold freely those things which he had meditated in the matter of the Christian faith, with the promise that they would do their endeavour to get him fully satisfied; but that this he had in a tone of sufficient boldness refused [Vid. praefat. Act. Synod. Dord—Baudart.

monum. Hist]. As this story stirred against him a very bad feeling in the minds of many, who thought that he ought to have paid greater honour to that Conference, convened as it was from all the provinces at once, we think it well to trace from a point a little further back the character of this whole affair, and the transaction as it really happened, according to the account given by Arminius himself.

Sometime, then, before the subject of our memoir, agreeably to the summons of the States-General to attend the Conference, had presented himself at the Hague, he happened accidentally to lay his hand on five articles, viz: concerning Predestination, the Fall of Adam, Free Will, Original Sin, and the Eternal Salvation of Infants. These had been sent into other provinces also, but especially into Zealand and the district of Utrecht: yea and had been discussed at some ecclesiastical meetings, in terms which implied that, on those heads of doctrine, they contained the sentiments of Arminius himself.

But scarcely had he perused them, when he immediately felt assured he had detected their author, — one, namely of the number of those whom the rulers had summoned to that same Conference with himself. Deeming it proper to deal with him on the subject at that very time, he freely signified to him on what grounds he suspected that those articles had been drawn up by him.

This imputation the individual referred to did not deny, but declared that they were by no means sent as importing that they contained the opinions of Arminius himself, but simply as articles which furnished matter for disputation among the students at Leyden. Arminius rejoined that by this circumstance, notwithstanding, serious injury was done to him and to his reputation; nor could it otherwise than happen that articles of this kind, everywhere in circulation, would be attributed not so much to the students, as to himself; when the truth was, that they had neither emanated from him, nor did they accord with his sentiments on the points concerned, nor with the Sacred Scriptures.

After these things had passed between them (two only of the other brethren being present), Arminius further judged it proper, towards the close of this convention at the Hague, when all were present, to introduce the matter, especially as some were present at this convention who had not only read those articles, but who were under the impression that they were the production of Arminius himself. Accordingly, when the proceedings of this assembly had been already signed, — nay, after certain had been deputed to report their transactions to their Mightinesses the States, — he begged the brethren to do him the favour to remain for a little on his account, as there was a matter on which he wished to have some conversation with them. He straightway produced the above-named articles, and having read them, he proceeded in strong terms to complain of the injury done to him by their circulation — adding, that he protested solemnly, and as in the presence of the Supreme Majesty, that these articles were by no means his, nor did they express his opinions. This he repeated twice, and moreover entreated his brethren that they would not attach such immediate faith to rumours set afloat respecting him, and be so ready to admit things which were falsely laid to his charge. To this, a member of the conference on his own account replied, 'that for that end he would do well to signify to his brethren what in these articles he approved, and what he rejected, that thus they might to some extent be made aware of his opinions;' and some other one followed in the same strain.

Arminius, however, replied that this did not appear to him to be advisable, nor was it obligatory upon him, seeing that this conference had been appointed for no such end; not to mention that time sufficient had been expended on this assembly, and that the States themselves were expecting their reply. On saying this, the conference was straightway brought to a close, no one seeking to follow up the conversation any further, nor all assembled simultaneously agreeing in that request, or using any persuasion with him, to understake such a task. Nay more, after the conference was over, some of the brethren declared in the presence of Arminius himself, that they had been charged by their churches not to enter on any discussion concerning doctrinal controversies, and should anything of the sort happen, to quit the conference as soon as possible [Ex Arm. Delcar. coram Ord.]

But further, after the holding of this convention, calumny heaped fresh charges on Arminius and on those who, sharing in his opinion, had freely spoken their minds as to the proper way in which the Synod should be held.

They were represented as having sought, by these dissentient counsels, to interpose fresh delay in the way of the Synod's being held, and to pave the course directly for bringing about a revolution in doctrinal sentiment. Some made them out to be guilty of having got inserted in the public decree, the condition concerning the revisal of the Confession and Catechism. More roughly handled than all, were Arminius and Uitenbogaert, whose names, and whose very free expression of sentiment, according to the license granted to them by the States, were most acrimoniously animadverted on by the Synod of North Holland, which met shortly after at Amsterdam [Trigland. Hist Eccles.—Uitenb. Hist.] Nay, as if all this were not enough, Sybrandus, Lubberti, a professor in the Franeker University, despatched letters to Scotland, Germany, and France, asking advice of these foreigners, which contained a coloured and garbled account of what had been transacted at the previous Convention; — thereby exerting himself to preoccupy their minds with a violent prejudice against Arminius and Uitenbogaert [Vid literas S.

Lubberti huic fini scriptas inter Epist. Eccles. p. 187.]. To this document the accused party felt constrained, in course of time, to oppose another, to vindicate among these foreigners the innoence of their good name against the detractions of adversaries [Vid. Epist. Arm. et Uitenb. Sybrandianae oppos.

inter Ep. Eccles. p. 190.].

The Synod of South Holland, too, held at Delft in September following, embarked in the same business with sufficient animosity. Some of its proceedings, as far as the scope of the present narrative may require, I will here briefly and summarily recount. At this Synod, then, Uitenbogaert was called upon to explain to its assembled members the reasons why, in giving advice as to the mode of holding the National Synod, he, along with Arminius, had thought and counselled differently from the other pastors; in order that the Synod, after giving them due consideration, might be able to judge whether thereby, also, any prejudice had been done to the church. But Uitenbogaert immediately replied, 'that he, for his part, was ready to communicate to the Synod the opinions which had been delivered to the States; but to render reasons for them in this place, when those who had given expression to the same opinions with him were neither present, nor consulted, appeared to him altogether unadvisable. Moreover, he and his association in that Convention, were by no means bound by the mandate of any particular Synod, but had been summoned by the States of Holland themselves, to bring out their opinions freely and according to the dictate of conscience: to the States, therefore, with the best right, must the reasons of these opinions be rendered.

It was to no purpose, accordingly, and quite out of place, for this assembly to take upon itself to judge in respect to that matter; rather ought the brethren to take care, and strive by all means, to prevent such very hasty judgments, —

which also tended to the most serious prejudice of the Supreme Authority, —

from compromising the interests of the churches; and to take care that such proceedings to not interpose fresh obstacles to obtaining the Synod, so long desired.' [Vid. praefat. Act. Synod. Dord.—Uitenb. Hist.]. Various discussions ensued concerning this affair; as also, on the same occasion, concerning the right of the magistrate in things pertaining to religion. At last the Synod thought that it would be sufficient in the circumstances, if the opinions presented to the States were merely read to it, and full judgment in regard to them deferred until the arguments for the dissentients' opinions, yet to be delivered to the States, should be more clearly made known to them.

The affair being thus disposed of, the assembly forthwith decided, in terms of the decree of the last Synod held at Gorcum, to press the inquiry, if some animadversions on the Confession and Catechism had not been presented to the classes. It was replied by some of the classical deputies, that most of the ministers in their respective classes had declared that they had no remarks to make in opposition to these writings; and that in their judgment they were sound throughout, and in harmony with the Sacred Volume — nay, even, 'that they were prepared to live and die with the Confession and Catechism.' On the other hand, Uitenbogaert and others, in name of their respective classes, intimated that there were amongst them those who were as yet seriously engaged in the examination demanded, and that they would deliver their animadversions at the proper time [Vid. Press declar. Contrarem. oppos. p.

32]. Immediately snatching occasion from this to get proceedings originated against Uitenbogaert, the president of the Synod asked him whether he, too, cherished any scruples against these books? on which, lest he should appear to call in question any main points of the Christian doctrine, yea, and of the Reformed Confession [This noble-minded man, as the elder Brandt informs us, gave the president distinctly to understand, that he answered his question ex gratia, and not at all as being under obligation to do so; and that he declared the question to be 'unseasonable, unprofitable, and a kind of inquisition.' See Ger. Brandt's Hist. Reform. in Low Countries, Vol ii. p. 43—

TR], Uitenbogaert spontaneously and candidly declared 'that he approved of the Confession and Catechism as far as concerned the substance and basis of doctrine; he held that the fundamentals of salvation were sufficiently contained in them; and these formularies, as far as they agreed with the Harmony [See Confessionum Fidei Harmonia Orthod. et Ref. Eccl. &c.

Genevae 1581.—TR.] of the other Protestant Churches, had his entire assent.' [Vid. Uitenb. Hist. Eccles.—Press. declare. Remonst. p. 32. Respons.

ad Epist. Wallach. p. 17.].

Many joined in this sentiment, and expressed their concurrence in his statements, being desirous of nothing more than that ecclesiastical affairs should be conducted calmly and peaceably until the National Synod. To the suspicious minds of some, however, this declaration was by no means satisfactory; but they further asked 'if whatsoever things were contained in the Confession and Catechism were, as respects substance, words, phrases, and whatever else of that description, believed to be conformable to the Divine mind or not?' To this Uitenbogaert and the others replied 'that a declaration of that sort could not be made in a moment, and that to settle this matter aright a reasonable space of time was requisite;' on which the Synod at length decided by a plurality of votes to charge all the ministers, and even the professors of theology, that, laying aside all subterfuges, tergiversations, and delays, 'they would attentively examine every thing contained in the above-named writings, both as regards substance, and as regards words and phrases; and each deliver to his own classis, as speedily as possible, whatever remarks he might have to offer in opposition to the received doctrine.' [Act. Synod. Delf. Art. 3.].

Nor was this all. Proceeding yet further, the Synod, under the pretext that dissensions were growing daily and demanded an immediate remedy, at the same time decreed 'That their High Mightinesses the States of Holland and West Friesland, be requested to grant it permission to convoke from the two Synods of South and North Holland one Provincial Synod, by which the professors of theology who were to be cited, and such of the ministers of religion as it may seem necessary to the Church to summon, should, on the first opportunity, be brought together to a friendly conference on all those heads of doctrine in regard to which they cherished doubt; that in this way a judgment might be formed by the churches as to the nature and magnitude of the controversies, and as suitable a remedy as possible devised for allaying dissensions and preserving integrity of doctrine.' [Act. Synod. Delf. Art. 4.]. But this decision and decree, as it mightily pleased many, so it very highly offended others, and exposed its framers and authors to the suspicion of stepping, under the guise of holding this assembly and conference, into the place of a National Synod, and of exerting themselves to forestall its judgment and sentence. Nay, some thought that by this same decree the act of the States in regard to the lawful revision of the Confession and Catechism, and their right and authority to summon a National Synod in their own name, were very seriously infringed; and that this was done with the sole intent that those whom this ecclesiastical tribunal, after hearing their reasons, might have accused of heterodoxy, should henceforth be held disqualified to enjoy the right of voting in the National Synod. This undoubtedly entered into the grounds on which the deputies of both Synods, who petitioned the States for leave to carry their decisions into effect, were balked of their wish. For, on the 14th September, they received the reply 'that, considering the many difficulties with which this matter was beset, and the very grave political business which distracted the States at the time, it was impossible for them, in present circumstances, to comply with the request of the churches; but at their own tune, and when opportunity offered, they would take the matter into consideration: they further instructed the deputies of the churches to exert themselves meanwhile to the utmost for the promotion of ecclesiastical tranquillity; and they would besides, see to it that ministers of the opposite sentiment should be admonished of the same duty.' [Trigland. Hist. Eccles. p.

413.].

In the meantime, Arminius and Uitenbogaert were warned on all sides of the grievous extent to which, both in Holland and in the adjacent regions, they were everywhere maligned, — partly by clandestine whispers, partly by reports openly circulated among the people, — on account of the opinions they had expressed as to how the Synod should be held. They judged it by no means their duty to sit silent under all this; on the contrary, as a satisfaction due to their own character, they (on the 6th September) delivered to the Grand Pensionary of Holland, for presentation to the States, their reasons for their opinion, and for the advice they gave, drawn up in writing, and signed also by the two delegates from Utrecht. They moreover declared, that of nothing were they more desirous than that the rest of the brethren also should produce their reasons for the different opinions they advanced; and that thus, in regard to this matter, and the holding of the Synod, their High Mightinesses could give such a decision as would be most conducive to the good of the Church [Videsis integrum hoc Scriptum in Hist. Uitenbog.]. To the attainment of this wish, however, an obstacle was presented by the public deliberations respecting the armistice, the discussion of which so engaged the States as to leave them scarcely any leisure for these ecclesiastical affairs [The deliberations here referred to were of the very gravest character, and proved the source of that alienation between the ambitious Prince Maurice and the incorruptible Oldenbarneveldt, which caused the latter ere long to lose his head. Maurice was opposed to the truce. Oldenharneveldt, knowing his ulterior designs against the new-born liberties of Holland, promoted it in the face of storms that thickened around him from every side. His resolute patriotism at length triumphed in the famous truce of twelve years concluded with Spain in 1609, on terms deeply humiliating to the haughty Spaniard and advantageous to the Dutch—the fame of whose counsels and arms resounded throughout Europe. See Davies's Hist. Holland, vol. ii. p. 432.—

TR.]. It was in allusion to this that the illustrious Philip Mornay declared at the time 'that he very much wished that an armistice could be concluded, in respect to the growing contentions in the Leyden Academy; for, as the times were, nothing could fall out more unseasonable than these.' [In Epist. ad F.

Aerssenium, inter Epist. Eccles.].

Still further material and occasion for these dissensions were famished by a little book published in the course of that year (1607) at Gouda, intended for the religious instruction of youth, and afterwards known under the name of the Gouda Catechism. This little work was composed by the pastors of the Church in Gouda for the purpose of testing whether it could be turned by the authorities to the use of the elementary schools, and substituted in the place of the Palatine Catechism, which, in their judgment, contained questions too difficult, and couched in ambiguous terms [Fusius de hoc libello Uitenb. in Hist. Eccles.].

No sooner had that composition seen the light than very diverse opinions began to be expressed in regard to it. Those who sided with Arminius praised the little work, partly because its authors, treading in the steps of the Palatine divines in respect to its general order, seemed to have advanced nothing whatever repugnant to the Christian doctrine; partly also, and on this account mainly, that the composition referred to, foreclosing all scope for the introduction of thorny and disputable points, and breathing the primeval simplicity of Christianity, embraced in few words, and these, too, deduced from the Sacred page, the things to be believed.

But immediately some arose from among the opposite ranks who publicly condemned and execrated the book, and declared that there scarcely ever was a monstrous opinion but what was veiled in terms as general as itself was horrid; that simplicity suited primitive times, when evils as yet unknown required no antidote, but that afterwards as errors increased forms of words had to be devised which might ferret out errorists from their lurking-places; that this little book either did away with, or omitted, the primary doctrines of the Christian faith; that a signal was thereby given to those desirous of innovation; and that Servetus himself would have cheerfully subscribed it

[Grot. Annual, p. 555. in fol.—Vid. S. Lubberti Epist. ad Oldenbarneveld. inter Epist. Eccles. p. 215.].

Thus what the former called in harmony with heavenly truth, the latter called the lurking-place of heresies; what the former called liberty, the latter called disorder.

Nor was this all. Against this little book Reyner Donteklok took occasion to brandish his pen; and in a published treatise he not only addressed himself to the confutation of this small work of the Gouda divines, but also, at the instigation of certain malevolent parties, traduced with sufficient virulence those who had thought differently from others as to the mode of holding the Synod; and moreover, in no oblique terms, and all but pointing at him with his finger, he insinuated that Arminius had a hand in drawing up this catechism.

But although to the publication of it Arminius had no great objection, and afterwards owned that the Gouda ministers had consulted him prior to issuing it, and that, after they had explained the reasons why they thought it should be published, he had expressed his concurrence; nevertheless, to that composition he never applied a hand, nor had any share in the drawing of it up. Nay more; so far as his choice, and that of some others, was concerned, this little book would have lain long enough unnoticed, had not the intemperate clamours of many magnified it into an importance greater than was due [Vid. Examen Catech. Goud. a R. Donteklok, Belgice conscript.

1607. pag. 3. 5. 8. 9.10—Arm. Epist. ad C. Vorst, Kal. April. 1609.].

Calumny, however, overstepping even these limits, and spurning all restraints of humanity, put in circulation, at this same time, a most foul report concerning Arminius and Uitenbogaert, namely — that the Roman Pontiff, in a most gracious letter which he wrote to them, and holding out the hope of a large emolument, had commended to them the advocacy of the Church of Rome

[Ex Epist. Artopaei Uitenb. Histor. Eccles. inserta.]. How very far this was from even the semblance of truth, will yet more clearly appear from the subsequent thread of our narrative. But this magnificent lie was accompanied by another which was put in circulation about the same time, namely, that Arminius was in the habit of commending to his students, as of prime importance, the writings not only of Castellio and of Coornhert, but also of Suarez and other Jesuits, and of speaking in contemptuous terms of the works of Calvin, Beza, Martyr, Zanchius, Ursinus, and other eminent divines of the Reformed Church

[Vid. praefat. Act. Synod. Dord.].

These, and many more calumnies of the same kind, which were scattered far and wide regarding him throughout Germany, France, England, and Savoy, Arminius received with no other emotion than that of pity for brethren who sinned so grievously against God and their neighbour. Nay, he thought as he himself testifies, that by this prodigious ado, and by the preposterous diligence of brethren, 'it would only turn out that he, a poor obscure man, who was not able by his own virtues to push himself into notice, and of whom otherwise scarcely any out of Holland would either know anything, or deign to speak, would day by day be rendered notable and renowned.' [Ex Epist. Arm.

ad Drus.].

How inconsistent with truth that allegation was, as to his having recommended writers of questionable note (which was reported, as elsewhere, so in particular at Amsterdam,) I prefer to state in his own words rather than in mine. Mark these expressions of his which he penned to the chief magistrate of Amsterdam (Sebastian Egberts): 'The rumour about my advising the students to read the works of the Jesuits and of Coornhert, I can call by no other name than a lie; for never to any one, either by request or spontaneously, have I uttered a word on that subject. So far from this, after the reading of Scripture, which I strenuously inculcate, and more than any other (as the whole Academy, yea the conscience of my colleagues will testify,) I recommend that the Commentaries of Calvin be read, whom I extol in higher terms than Helmichius himself, as he owned to me, ever did. For I affirm that in the interpretation of the Scriptures Calvin is incomparable, and that his Commentaries are more to be valued than anything that is handed down to us in the Bibliotheca of the Fathers; so much so, that I concede to him a certain spirit of prophecy (interpretation) in which he stands distinguished above others, above most, yea above all. His Institutes, so far as respects Commonplaces, I give out to be read after the Catechism, as a more extended explanation. But here I add — with discrimination; as the writings of all men ought to be read. Of this my mode of advice I could produce innumerable witnesses: they cannot produce as much as one whom I advised to study Coornhert and the followers of Loyola. Let them produce one, and the lie will stand revealed. So that here from nothing springs a history, or rather a fiction. What other things are there done I know; aye, and what busy things have been done elsewhere I think you do not know. If you did know, you would be astonished at the perverse effrontery of men. As an antidote to all these I oppose integrity and patience, and sustain myself with the hope of a happy exit which the just Judge will grant unto me, who knows what I seek and what I do. I know that my earnest aims are pleasing to him, as being solely devoted to the establishment among Christians of truth, piety, and peace.' [Vid. Arm. Epist. ad Seb. Egb. inter Ep. Eccles. p. 185.].

With no less confidence of mind did he undertake, in the year following (1608) the vindication of his own cause in the presence of that most noble man, Hippolytus a Collibus, the ambassador to the States of the United Provinces of the illustrious Prince Palatine, Frederick the Fourth. Humours being already rife at Heidelberg that, on several articles of the Christian faith, Arminius dissented from the received opinion, this nobleman, thinking he ought not to rest in these, but hear the other side also, invited Arminius, in a very courteous manner, to visit him at the Hague. Admitted, accordingly, to an interview with him, Hippolytus, in a manner singularly courteous, stated the reasons for the sinister suspicions respecting him, and on what heads it was that Sybrandus Lubberti had impeached him by letter to the distinguished Paraeus; on all which Arminius candidly and ingenuously explained his own opinions, in particular, concerning the Divinity of the Son of God, concerning Providence and Divine Predestination, concerning Grace and Free Will, and also on the subject of Justification. So satisfactory to that nobleman was his explanation on these points, that he thought fit earnestly to solicit Arminius to give it to him in writing, in order that, on the one hand, after due consideration of these points, he might judge with more certainty and decisiveness respecting them, and on the other, be in a condition, in conferring with any on the subject, to confute the calumnies referred to, and to vindicate his innocence. Arminius accordingly drew up at the time, (on the 5th April 1608,) that most erudite and elaborate epistle to the ambassador of the Prince Palatine, which still exists among his published works, and comprises a succinct defence of his doctrine, as well as of his life. It is with pleasure we here subjoin the golden words with which he closes this epistle — words every way worthy of a noble-minded man:—

'Would to God,' he writes, 'that I could obtain this from my brethren by profession of the same religious fellowship with me in the Lord, that they would at least give me credit for some susceptibility of conscience towards God! — which, surely, the love of Christ ought readily to obtain from them, if indeed they would meditate on his spirit and mind. What profit can accrue to me from dissension undertaken from the mere lust of dissension, from stirring schism in the Church of Christ of which, by the grace of God and of Christ, I profess myself a member? If they imagine I am instigated to this by ambition or avarice, I declare sincerely in the Lord they do not know me. So free from avarice can I affirm myself to be, that it has never happened to allure me with its blandishments, although pretexts are not wanting by which I might palliate or excuse it. Ambition I have none, except the honourable ambition which impels me to this — to investigate divine truth from the sacred Scriptures with all my might — to hold it forth when found, calmly and without contention, so as not to dictate to any, or strive to extort assent, much less to seek to lord it over another's faith; and to hold it forth for this end, that I may gain more souls to Christ, and that I may be a good savour to him, and that mine may be an approved name in the church of the saints. This, after a long time's patience, I hope through grace to attain; although at present I am a reproach to my brethren; an offscouring and outcast to those who, in the same faith with me, worship and invoke the one God, the Father, the one Lord Jesus Christ, in the one Spirit, and who cherish the one hope with me, of obtaining the heavenly inheritance through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will grant me, I hope, (and O! that the light of that holy and happy day may smile upon me!) that we may peacefully, in the name of the Lord, meet among ourselves, and institute a Christian conference on things pertaining to religion: in which I promise through the grace of God to exhibit that moderation of spirit, and love for the truth and peace, which may fairly be exacted and expected of the servant of Christ. Meanwhile, let my brethren be quiet and allow me to be quiet; — as quiet indeed I am, giving no trouble or molestation to them. If they think otherwise of me, let them institute proceedings; I will not shrink from the authority of any competent tribunal; I will not fail to appear. If they are of opinion that the minds of those who listen to me are artfully pre-occupied as from a distance, and the affair managed with such policy that they neither deem it advisable to face me in judgment, nor think it sufficiently safe that studious youth should be intrusted to me; and that therefore a black mark, as what I have deserved, ought to be daubed upon my name in order that these same youth may be scared away — otherwise certain risk would be incurred from the delay of the conference; lo, here I present myself, that along with them I may address, solicit, and supplicate those whose prerogative it is to call, or grant, conventions of this kind, that they would not suffer us any longer to be agitated by such vexation and disquietude of spirit, but either themselves apply a very speedy remedy, or permit it to be applied — but still, by their decree, and under their direction. I will not refuse to appear before any convention, whether of all the ministers of our United Netherlands or of some of them, to be summoned from the several provinces; or even of all the ministers of Holland and Westfriesland, (to which province our Leyden Academy belongs) or of some to be nominated from their number, provided the whole affair be transacted under the cognizance of our rightful rulers; nay further, I neither shrink from, nor dread the presence of learned men to be summoned from other places, provided they take part in the conference on equitable terms, and subject to the same rules to which I myself shall have to submit. Permit me to say, in one word, let a convention be held, be it of many or of few, if it only present some glimmering hope of success — such a hope as I shall not be able, on solid grounds, to prove deceptive — here I am, prepared and ready at this very day, at this very hour; for it teases and vexes me to be daubed every day with fresh calumnious aspersions, and to have the annoying necessity imposed upon me of wiping them away. In this respect, surely, I little resemble heretics, who either shrink from ecclesiastical conventions, or shape matters so, that they can trust to the number of their adherents, and calculate on certain victory.'

On the day following that on which Arminius drew up this epistle — or rather epistolary dissertation on religious affairs — to the Palatine ambassador, he gave forth the same indications of an intrepid and upright spirit in a letter to that man of consummate integrity, already knit to him for many years, at once by the bonds of close intimacy and of high esteem — John Drusius. After some preliminary reference to the very shameful acts of calumny of which he was the victim, and to the calmness of spirit by which he eluded them, he goes on to address that most attached friend in the following terms:— 'This very peace of conscience makes me judge that even the advices of my friends, by which they urge me to refute these calumnies, need not be acted on by me with precipitate haste. Nor do I apprehend that the minds either of the rulers, or of learned men, will be so far preoccupied with prejudice against me as not to be easily disabused even by the mere explanation of my sentiments and aims. Nay verily, such mighty and over-hasty plotting on the part of my brethren against me, is to me a most certain sign that they are distrustful of their own cause. For he that trusteth doth not make haste, confiding in Jehovah, in whom alone is all his help; and mine truly lies in his Word only, for the truth, perfection, and perspicuity of which alone I will not cease to contend against the traditions of all men, of what rank soever they be, as long as the benignant God thinks fit to lengthen out my life; nor will I ever suffer to be imposed on the Church of Christ, whether under the name of secondary, or under any other name, any authoritative rule whatsoever other than that one only Rule which is contained in the books of the Old and New Testament. And there is a necessity, I perceive, for a strenuous agitation of the subject, even among us who not go long ago were foremost to urge this first principle in opposition to Papists; but now, as if fleeing from court, we do not blush to prescribe to the churches and to their ministers, as traditions by the standard of which the Scriptures are to be explained, even Confessions and Catechisms, because, forsooth, they were drawn up by learned men, sanctioned by various decisions, confirmed by length of time (for they are beginning to plead a prescription of forty years), and sealed with the blood of martyrs!'

CHAPTER XI.

CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE IN MAY 1608: ARMINIUS REPLIES TO

THIRTY-ONE DEFAMATORY ARTICLES, FALSELY ASCRIBED TO HIM

AND ADRIAN BORRIUS. —A.D. 1608.

Rightly judging, however, that private complaints, like the foregoing, among his confidential friends served no end of self-protection, and that unfavourable reports respecting him and Uitenbogaert were notoriously increasing every day; considering how little, moreover, he could calculate, as matters then stood, on obtaining satisfaction through the medium of the ordinary ecclesiastical assemblies; Arminius decided on pursuing another course. He and Uitenbogaert, accordingly, presented a petition to the States of Holland, in which 'they not only complained that by their discrepant judgments as to the holding of the Synod, they had incurred, without cause, the odium of many; but further declared, that though they regarded the judgments in question as being at once in strict harmony with reason and Scripture, and in the highest degree adapted to the present state of ecclesiastical affairs, they by no means wished to press them to the obstruction of a National Synod; nay, rather, they would cheerfully suffer that Synod — so long earnestly desired, and which they themselves, too, thought necessary — to be held in any other way, provided that in it due regard were had to the sacred Scriptures, and care taken that no one lord it over another's faith. For their part, they utterly disclaimed all desire to bring about a new state of things, and with God's help would adhere till their last breath to the Reformed Church and doctrine.

Further, they humbly begged and implored the illustrious States that by their gracious influence with the States-General a National Synod might be at length convoked, and an end be put at once and for ever to these most grievous contentions.' [Vid. scriptum hoc supplic. integrum in Hist. Uitenbog.

p. 425.].

But further, as he perceived that, owing to the public and grave deliberations of the States respecting the armistice, little attention was paid to this petition on its being presented and read; and as, in the meantime, his students were treated in a most rigorous manner, and the usual Academic certificates with which he furnished them were unfairly disparaged, Arminius felt constrained to draw up an additional petition, in his own individual name, most urgently praying these supreme rulers of his country that they would not refuse to institute a legal inquiry into his cause, and, with that wisdom by which they were distinguished, determine the method, either in the form of a conference, or of an ecclesiastical convention to be held under their auspices, by which, on the very first opportunity, the way might be opened to him to clear himself from so many injurious aspersions [Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. p. 435.]. Reverting to this petition, the Rulers of Holland and West Friesland, with the view of foreclosing a greater evil, determined that Gomarus and Arminius be summoned to the Hague — the four ministers who attended the last conference at the Hague, from South and North Holland, to be also present; and that they be heard before the Grand Council. The Honourable Councillors of the Supreme Court, moreover, were instructed to ascertain, by means of the conference on religious matters to be held between the two Professors, —

due inquiry being instituted into the cause of each — 'whether the difference that subsisted between them could not be settled by friendly converse; and to report to the States in regard to the whole case.' [Trigland Hist. p. 413, 414.].

But to this decree the deputies of the churches opposed themselves with all their might; and pleading prescriptive authority, they, on the 14th May, besought the States that in place of this conference, appointed to be held before the Supreme Court, a provincial Synod be convened, in which this ecclesiastical cause should be investigated and decided by ecclesiastical men, and by those delegated by the churches with power to judge. The States replied that it was only an inquiry into the cause with which the Supreme Court was charged; but that judgment respecting it would be afterwards committed to a provincial or National Synod [Vid. Praefat. Act. Synod. Dordr.].

To give however, a more accurate idea of what, at this time, were the state and aspect of the Leyden Academy, we will here present to the reader the letter (if the eminent Peter Bertius, Regent of the Theological College, written, on occasion of the appointment of this conference, to that Honourable Senator of the Supreme Court, and most upright man — Rombout Hoogerbeets:

'Illustrious Sir, and Honoured Lord: I understand that a conference is to be held shortly, on some controverted heads of doctrine, between Doctor Gomarus and Doctor Arminius; and that, for the settlement of that affair, besides the ministers already appointed, there are to be present most of the senators of your Superior Court. I hope the matter will be brought to a happy and successful issue, for the restoration of Ecclesiastical concord; and I sincerely pray and supplicate God, the author of peace, that such will be the result. For hitherto a diversity of conflicting sentiments, besides distracting the minds of some, has also made my office, sufficiently difficult in itself, to be one of much more difficult fulfilment. For at first, instructions were given us that my students should listen to either professor indifferently, and without distinction. I also, by virtue of my office, am instant and urgent to this effect; nor do I suffer any one to neglect any prelection with impunity. I also rehearse the prelections of either, without prejudice in regard to any; and partiality, according to the measure in which I execrate it, do I also banish it from the college. By this it happens, that of my students some embrace the sentiments of Doctor Gomarus, some again, those of Doctor Arminius — though modestly, in the latter case, on account of the authority of the Synod, and the hazard of being kept back from the ministry. But I find from the statements of certain parties, that all those who attend Doctor Arminius are found fault with, and held as suspected, and are judged unfit either for churches or schools.

For which reason, the illustrious States will lose their cost, and myself, the students, and Arminius, will lose our pains; and it will turn out that what they have learned from him they must unlearn, and recant the sentiments they received with open minds. If this is to take place, it were better either that the students had never dipped into learning, or that Doctor Arminius had never been seen here, where he advances things that cannot be brought to the public, except under the infamous brand of heresy. But I, willingly obedient to the mandates of my Lords, and desirous of promoting the interests of my students, could wish the toil of Arminius, not less than of Doctor Gomarus, to be useful to the churches. I am hedged up, therefore, with difficulty on either hand, and hang in doubt as to what, in the circumstances, ought to be done.

And having in the college, at present, several young men ripe for the church, I very much wish, both for their sake, and for the sake of those who come after, and for my own sake also, and, more than all, for the sake of the public peace, that whatever difference there is, may be authoritatively settled and set at rest; for that all the controversies should subside, and either party succumb to the opinion of the other, I suppose is matter of a too moderate desire to be realised in men of that profession. Such being the state of affairs, I could wish that, to me also, in that transaction at the Hague, some place were allowed in the back benches, as a listener and spectator. Not that I desire to pry curiously into other people's affairs, or to address myself to business which it devolves on others to perform (for I have enough, and more than enough, to do at home,) but that, for the reason mentioned, I reckon that affair one which very much concerns me. For on me mainly, as presiding over the youth engaged in the study of theology, will it devolve to carry into effect what may there be decreed; and I shall be in a condition, after hearing parties, to discharge more prudently the functions of my calling and superintendence, and to consult accordingly for the interests of my students. I shall have the course indicated at last which I myself may venture openly to pursue. For I perceive that the eyes of many are turned on me, and that from my procedure, judgments are formed respecting my young men; and that, too, so keenly, that even now I am asked whether there are not some in the college who are attached to the opinion and party of Arminius; which students, unless they recant, these persons (you know their hot-headed zeal) would gladly see cashiered and turned out forthwith. There are some also who urge that they ought to be severally scrutinized and examined by some deputed for that purpose; and if, during that process, any one should express aught that savours of the sentiments of Arminius, — if they do not answer in all things according to the opinions of their inquisitors, — the only alternative for my young men will be, either to bring themselves to a recantation, or to betake themselves to another mode of life. Thus, so long as we are miserably split up into parties, we are in course of being reduced, by little and little, to desolation; and our body which, by the concord and equanimity of the professors, was in a condition to stand firm and increase, is sensibly dissolving and wasting away, — the very parties inflicting the evil who ought to apply a balm to the grievous wound. I beseech you, therefore, illustrious sir, that you would use your influence with the noble Barneveldt, to procure me admission into that conference, to act merely a silent part, and get to know of the things that would make for the advantage and safety of the college. I will see you, God-willing, in the course of two days, and ascertain from yourself personally either what you have done in this matter, or what you think respecting it. — Farewell. Given at Leyden in Holland, 14th May, 1608. Thine, Peter Bertius.' [Ex ipso Bertii autographo.].

Thus writes Bertius. Whether or not he got his wish, or what sort of answer he received from the honourable Hoogerbeets, I have never ascertained.

Meanwhile the two professors, with the deputies of the churches, presented themselves, on the day appointed, before the august body of Senators at the Hague; when the honourable president of the assembly, after some preliminary refereace to the mandate of the States, and the object contemplated by this transaction, called on Gomarus to declare, without evasion and reserve, whether there was any difference between him and his colleague, and if so, what was its nature. Gomarus urged by way of objection,

'that he was sincerely devoted to the service of the illustrious States, and acknowledged that this present College of the Supreme Court was composed of distinguished and prudent men; but that it was their province to pronounce judgment not concerning sacred things, but only concerning things civil and secular. That the matter belonged not to their tribunal, but to that of the churches; and that no investigation of it could be instituted in this place without prejudice to his cause, and that of the churches. That they ought to render unto God the things that are God's, but unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and that they ought to obey God rather than man.'

The Council replied, 'that no doubt the cause of religion was here treated of, and that they by no means wished to arrogate to themselves the authority to decide in regard to it, — an inquiry into it being the only province intrusted to them. Again, accordingly, they importuned Gomarus that he would not refuse to communicate to them freely his own account of the matter.'

Still spinning out delays, Gomarus here contended, in the first place, 'that it was unjust that he should undertake the part of prosecutor of Arminius, with whom he had hitherto lived on familiar terms; being, moreover, ignorant of the things which his colleague had written or had delivered, whether in public prelections or in his private class. But since Arminius had sometimes made mention of certain scruples he had, it was better that he should produce them himself. He, for his part, did not call in question any heads whatsoever of Christian doctrine as they were comprised and explained in the Confession and Catechism; nor did he wish to stir any strife respecting them.' At last when the Council insisted on a more express reply, he was reduced to the alternative of confessing 'that between himself and Arminius there did lurk some dissension; but that, in his view, it was highly inexpedient and prejudicial to the liberty of the churches to explain the nature of it at this time and in this place.'

At this point, however, Arminius, who had thus far maintained silence, expressed 'his astonishment, considering that various rumours about his heterodoxy had by this time run the round of all the churches, and the conflagration he had kindled was said to have surmounted the topmost pile of the Church, that such prodigious difficulty should nevertheless be here pretended to declare of what sort that difference might be, or what he himself had taught in opposition to the formularies of consent. It was iniquitous to demand this declaration from him, and thus fish matter of accusation out of his own mouth. What he had taught privately or publicly in contrariety to the Confession and Catechism, no one would ever produce. And as to the doubts he might cherish, it was not fair that he should produce them, except in terms of a decree of the supreme Magistracy, who had determined that the Confession and Catechism should be revised in a National Synod.' [Praefat.

Act. Synod. Dordr.].

On this, Gomarus undertook to prove, that in regard to that primary article of the Christian faith, the justification of man before God, Arminius had taught such an opinion as was repugnant to the sacred Volume and to the Confession of the Belgic Churches. In proof of this he produced the very words of Arminius, extracted both from his theses on justification, and from a certain letter to a friend, in which he had asserted, 'that in the justification of man before God the righteousness of Christ is not imputed for righteousness, but faith itself; or the act of believing constitutes, through God's gracious act of acquittance, that righteousness of ours by which we are justified.' After Gomarus had asked that these statements might be inserted among the records of that conference, Arminius, on the other hand, dictated the following statement for insertion in the same records:— 'In order to declare how utterly abhorent my soul is from all desire of unnecessary contention or disputation, I profess that I hold as true, pious, and sacred, that doctrine of justification before God effected through faith to faith, or of the imputation of faith for righteousness, which is contained in the Harmony of Confessions by all the Churches, and that I approve of it, and have always approved of it, and thoroughly acquiesce in it. But that a still clearer testimony may remain of this my desire for the general peace of the Reformed and Protestant Churches, I solemnly affirm that should occasion require me to commit to writing my opinion on this matter, both as respects the point itself, and as respects the phraseology and more accurate mode of treatment (which opinion I am prepared to defend by solid arguments, against all objections), I will cheerfully submit that writing to the verdict of all these Churches, to this extent, namely

— that if, after the cause has been investigated in due form, according to the decree of my supreme Lords, these Churches shall think that said opinion and its maintainers are not to be tolerated, I will either desist from that opinion, in the event of being better instructed, or resign my office.' [Vid. lib. cui titulus Origo et progress, dissidiorum Eccles. in Belgio, Belg. conscript. p. 21, 22.].

In these statements of Arminius Gomarus still refused to acquiesce; nor could he be brought to acknowledge that, on the point in question, the opinion of Arminius was exactly coincident with that of the Reformed Church; on which the latter, with the view of testifying still further the pacific sentiments that inspired him, and of avoiding superfluous disputation, exclaimed, 'Here is my confession on this point, couched in the express terms of the Palatine Catechism.' Then, reciting the very words of the Catechism, he went on to say: 'I believe in my heart, and confess with my mouth, that I shall pass as righteous in the sight of God, only by faith in Jesus Christ, so that, although my conscience may accuse me of having grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and not kept any of them, and of having till now, besides, been inclined to all evil, nevertheless, provided I embrace these benefits with true confidence of mind, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ will, without any merit on my part, of the mere mercy of God, be imputed to, and bestowed upon me, the same as if I had committed no sin, and as if no taint adhered to me — nay more, as if I myself had perfectly performed that obedience which Christ has performed on my behalf.

Not that I please God by the worth of my faith, but that the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ constitute my righteousness in the sight of God. Only, I cannot embrace it, and apply it to myself, in any other way than by faith.' [Vid. resp. ad quest. LX. et LXI. Catech. Palatinae.].

But not even this confession would satisfy Gomarus. Nay he repeatedly rated Arminius for making faith the object or matter of justification, but the righteousness of Christ the meritorious cause of justification. In this he thought he had effected something of great moment; but in the estimation of most of the Council it was little else than a logomachy, since it was evident between them both that it was not the value of our works, but the grace of God, that effected our being justified by faith [Vid. Grot. Epist. ad Reigersb.].

When, moreover, Gomarus insisted on hearing the opinion of Arminius on certain other questions also, it seemed good to the Council to enjoin first on him, and then on Arminius, to deliver each his own opinion respecting certain primary articles on which some question had been raised between them, comprised in a series of propositions, and drawn up in writing, and that each, in turn, should append his own animadversions and strictures on the written statement of the other.

This being done, and the conference brought to a close, the Council reported to the States of Holland 'that they, indeed, as far as they had been able to perceive from this conference, were of opinion that the controversies which had arisen between these two professors were not after all of such great importance, and had to do for the most part with certain more subtle reasonings on the subject of Predestination, which might either be omitted, or tolerated in a spirit of mutual forbearance.' On this report being made, it pleased the States forthwith to summon before them, in the Council-hall, both the professors, and the rest of the ministers concerned [Praefat. Act. Synod.

Dord.]; when the Most Honourable, the Grand Pensionary (Oldenbarneveldt), addressing himself to them, among other things declared 'that it was to him matter of gratitude to God that on the great heads of Christian doctrine no controversy existed.' [Ex Declarat. Arm. coram Ord.]. And then, after having, in name of that honourable assembly, given thanks to each for this renewed and faithful endeavour, he enjoined upon them, 'to keep to themselves what had been transacted in that meeting; to advance nothing whatever that was opposed either to the Sacred Scriptures, or to the Confession and Catechism; and to direct all their counsels henceforward for the peace of the Academy and the Church;' adding, 'that the States would do their endeavour to get these controversies determined either in a National, or (if that could not be convened in time,) in a Provincial Synod.'

But Gomarus, thinking that much greater importance ought to be attached to the growing controversies, begged permission to speak, and did not scruple on that occasion to declare, 'that the opinions of his colleague on the points in dispute between them were of such a nature as would make him shrink, if he himself entertained them, from the thought of standing before God, his judge; and that unless a remedy were promptly applied, it was to be feared that there would be a mutual embroilment of one province against another, church against church, city against city, and burgher against burgher.' [Grot. Epist. ad K. Reigersb.—Praefat. Act. Synod.]. While to some these statements seemed unwarrantably harsh, others viewed them as the testimony of an unshackled and fearless conscience, and this the rather, that for several days, and most of all at that time, he had maintained some moderation of look and tone. On the other hand, to this declaration of Gomarus, which he was greatly astonished to hear, Arminius spiritedly rejoined, 'that he for his part, was by no means conscious of holding any religious sentiment of so atrocious a character; that the controversies were not so serious as all this, but chiefly concerned Predestination; and that he always adhered to the Confession of the Church in Holland, and meant still to adhere to it. That in opposition to the particular opinions of some, he had occasionally spoken, as necessity demanded; but that he had never given utterance to anything that militated against the general sentiments of the Reformed Church. That he would furnish no cause for any schism either in the Church or State. That he was, moreover, prepared to declare openly and in good faith his opinion and his aims in regard to the entire subject of religion as soon as he was commanded by his Sovereign Lords to do so; yea even now, before withdrawing from this hall.' [Ex. Declar. Arm. coram Ord.].

Many who were sincerely attached to Arminius, and to the cause of ecclesiastical peace, had anticipated from this conference a happier issue, and threw the blame of the protracted dissension upon Gomarus, who here, if ever, had scorned to yield [This is an allusion to the words, 'cedere nescius cuiquam,' which the poet Heinsius applies to Gomarus in certain verses prefixed to the collected works of the latter.]. Yea, and others, too, whose feelings rose against Gomarus in still smarter revolt, did not hesitate to declare, 'that they would rather appear before the divine tribunal with the faith of Arminius, than with the charity of Gomarus.' Hugh Grotius, for one, a man of great name, alluding to the above-mentioned conference, writes in a letter to his kinsman Reigersberg, that he had found Uitenbogaert about this time more sad ['And Gomarus more jocund,'— adds Gerard Brandt. Hist. Ref. Low Countries.—TR.] than usual — giving vent to these among other expressions:

'that although the Provincial Synod should take place, nevertheless, considering the weight of prejudice under which the affair was driven, and that the particular opinions of divines, — stealing insensibly into the minds of their disciples, and by lapse of time, and neglect of profounder inquiry, received with the tacit consent of the churches, — smothered by their authority the ardour of great intellects; and considering that in churches, not less than in other assemblies, the greater could prevail over the better part, he anticipated for the prospects of Arminius no happier issue than befell Castellio, who was so pressed by the violence of his adversaries as to "be reduced to the necessity of seeking a livelihood by labouring as a woodman.' [Origo et progress, dissens. Eccles. in Belg. p. 22.—Vid. (Grot. Epist. opus p. 3.].

That this was no chimerical fear which haunted the mind of Uitenbogaert in regard to his friend Arminius, might be too well augured from the foul lies and insults with which, more and more every day, detraction assaulted the name of the latter. For this end, there were put in circulation, at this very time, twenty, and eleven, theological articles, ascribed [That is, two series of articles consisting respectively of twenty and eleven. See the opening statements of his Apologia adv. art. xxxi., Opera p. 134.—TR.] partly to him, partly to Adrian Borrius, one of the ministers of Leyden, and partly to both; in the dissemination of which his adversaries had this sole object in view, to stir up against these two men, thus branded with the black mark of heresy, the hatred, not only of the unlettered public, but also of those who held high positions both in the Church and in the State. Of these articles, sixteen, couched in the self-same words, had already, two years before, reached the hands of Arminius. These being alike destitute of truth both as respected historical narration and theological import, Arminius thought that they would die in the bud, and might therefore pass unnoticed at the time; but when, contrary to his expectation, he perceived that they were still, and increasingly, in circulation, and were, moreover, augmented by new articles, he judged it expedient, lest the rage of calumny should gather strength from delay, and protracted silence on his part be construed as confession, to meet them with a temperate and succinct reply. The task accomplished, he showed this apologetic treatise to the very persons themselves, (men of wisdom and of great authority) by whose aid he succeeded in laying his hands on the above-named articles; but they dissuaded him from publishing it, lest the too thorough confutation of calumny should so engender ignominy to the authors of it as to influence more and more their zeal in maligning him [Ex Ep. Arm. ad S. Egb. 10. Octob. 1608.]. I cannot allow myself, in this connexion, to omit the striking words, worthy to be held in remembrance, in which, after having explained his own opinion on the articles in detail, he thus replies to a certain principal objection by way of corollary:

'There will be those, perhaps, who will twit me with appearing to answer at tunes in a tone of hesitation, when it is incumbent on a doctor and professor of theology to be sure of those things which he is to teach to others, and not to fluctuate in his opinions. To such I would answer: 1. That even a man the most learned, and the most versed in the sacred writings, is ignorant of many things, and is always a learner in the school of Christ and the Scriptures. But it is not possible for the man who is ignorant of many things, to give an unhesitating reply on all the points in regard to which an occasion or necessity of pronouncing may be presented to him, either by adversaries, or by others who wish to inquire and ascertain his mind by conversation and discussion, in private or in public. For it is better, on points respecting which he has not certain knowledge, for such a man to pronounce doubtfully rather than positively, and to intimate that he himself requires to make daily progress, and along with those inquirers to seek instruction; for no one, I trow, has advanced to such a stage of boldness as to call himself a master who is ignorant of no one thing, and who entertains a doubt on no subject whatsoever. 2. All things that come under controversy are not of equal importance. Some doctrines are such that no one may doubt concerning them who wishes to be ranged under the name of Christian; but there are others which are not of the same dignity, and in regard to which those who have treated of the Catholic doctrine have differed among themselves without detriment to the Christian truth and peace.

Of what description the points are which are here treated, and respecting which I have seemed to give a dubious answer, and whether they are points of absolute necessity, will fall to be considered at the proper time. 3. If this, my reply, is not peremptory, it is not because I have advanced anything in it contrary to my conscience, but because I have not thought proper to bring out, at the first moment, all the things which I could say. I have judged my reply sufficient, and more than sufficient, for those imputations which are grounded on no reasons whatever; neither on this, that they can in truth be fastened on me, nor that they militate against the truth of the Scriptures. In reference to most of them, a simple denial, and demand for proof, would have been a discharge in full of all that they could justly claim at my hands. I have proceeded beyond this, in order to give some measure of satisfaction; and further, to stimulate them to a conference, should my brethren think it needful.

This I will never refuse, provided it be proceeded with in due form, and in such a manner that fruit may be expected to result from it.'

Meanwhile that calumny which we have mentioned above, as to his strenuous efforts to promote the interests of the Papal kingdom, was also resuscitated about this same time, and was urged against him in a manner the most offensive. With the view of neutralising this falsehood, a year had scarcely elapsed since he had drawn up very learned theses concerning idolatry; adding, by way of corollary, 'that the Roman Pontiff is an idol, and that those who take him for that which he vaunts himself to be, are, for that very reason, idolaters.' Besides these he had published other theses, in which he maintained 'that the Reformed Churches had not made a secession from that of Rome, and that these churches did well in refusing to hold and profess communion with it in faith and divine worship.' Nor was this all. The more effectually even yet to seal the lips of his detractors, Arminius, shortly after the conference held in the presence of the Grand Council, got up a public disputation concerning the Roman Pontiff, maintaining that he is 'an adulterer, and the pander of the Church, the false prophet and tail of the dragon, the adversary of God and of Christ, the antichrist, the wicked servant who beats his fellow-servants, having no title to the name of bishop, the destroyer and waster of the Church.'

Yet not even by this declaration did he succeed in satisfying the suspicious tempers of some. An individual was found who, in a letter he sent to Germany, put in a mutilated form the title of his theses respecting secession from the Church of Rome, by which foreigners, and those who were unacquainted with the facts, might be led to believe that Arminius had an undue leaning to the Papal Church. Yea, a certain minister of Amsterdam, carried away by the popular clamour against him, made a public assault upon Arminius as a divine who was most unsound, and who held the Roman Pontiff to be a member of the body of Christ— 'a doctrine this,' he exclaimed, 'so exceedingly hateful to God, that it had been observed by discerning men not a few, that from the time at which certain persons had begun to maintain it, public affairs had declined, and some of our most strongly fortified cities had come to be occupied by the enemy.' This calumny was followed up by another, namely, that he was instigating many to go over to the Papacy, and furnishing occasion to some politicians to deny less stoutly the exercise of the Popish religion to those who demanded it.

But though Arminius saw no remedy for dissipating these clouds of detraction to be preferable to that of innocence and patience, still he lost no time in addressing to wise and eminent men, and in particular to the magistrates of Amsterdam, in whose city at that time the most unbridled rage of evil-speaking prevailed, his complaint of the injury thereby inflicted upon him; and he protested by letter how utterly these clamours were at variance with truth.

Mark his brief declaration on this subject in a letter to the honourable Sebastian Egberts:— 'I openly profess that I do not hold the Roman Pontiff to be a member of Christ's body, but to be an enemy, a traitor, sacrilegious, a blasphemer, a tyrant, and most violent usurper of a most unjust domination over the Church; as the man of sin, as the son of perdition, as that most notorious outlaw, &c. I understand, however, by the Pope one who exercises the Pontificate in the usual manner. But if some Adrian of Utrecht, supposing him to be elevated without dishonourable artifices to the Pontifical chair, were actively to set about the reformation of the Church, making a commencement with himself the Pope, and with the Pontificate, and with the Court at Rome, and assuming nothing more than the name and authority of Bishop, — though holding the pre-eminence over all other bishops, by virtue of ancient statutes of the Church, — him I should not dare to call by the above appellations; for the man whom the minions of Antichristianism, and whom the Court at Rome hold in such hatred as to take his very life, such a one I cannot persuade myself to regard as the worst of men. Now it is believed that this man was dispatched by poison, administered by those who feared that he was about to effect a reformation in the Church, and in the Roman Court. I apprehend, however — and I think it can be established out of the Scriptures with great probability — that from him who is elevated to the Roman Pontificate, no reformation is to be expected; and if any one allows himself to be moved by that hope to make the attempt, he incurs the certain danger of death or of exile — the issue being so arranged even by God himself: for the Pontificate will be abolished by the glorious advent of Christ, and the predicted reformation is destined to take place through the separation of peoples from Babylon, which Babylon, at the time, will not be destitute of its head. But if that preacher supposes that from this opinion which I entertain, — namely, that a bill of divorcement has not yet been delivered by God to the church in which the Roman Pontiff sits enthroned, — it follows that I acknowledge even the Pope himself to be a member of the church, he blazons his own ignorance of the distinction between those who are seduced, and suffer the tyranny, on the one hand, and the False Prophet and tyrant himself on the other, who himself abnegates the name, member of the church, seeing he audaciously pronounces himself head of the church, and excommunicates all those, or holds them as excommunicated, who are not prepared to acknowledge him as head.' [Epist. Eccles. p. 212.].

Feeling persuaded that by this answer he had abundantly refuted the forementioned accusation, Arminius reckoned it a matter of no great difficulty to reply to those who at the same time affirmed of him that he had pronounced 'the fourth volume of Bellarmin to be irrefutable.' It is indeed true that though he had never employed these very words, he yet confessed that he sometimes cherished the wish that he could have seen more solidly refuted the arguments of that celebrated champion of the Romish Church, in which he strove to elicit from the opinion of certain of the Reformed, that they made the ever-blessed God the author of all sin. Nay, even the celebrated Conrad Vortius himself, who, on account of the strenuous service he rendered against the Papists, had at this time earned a high reputation, failed, in the judgment of Arminius, to do sufficient justice to the cause of the Reformed in his reply to the 'Theses of the Jesuits concerning the faith of the Calvinists.'

For this reason, he deemed it the safer course to decline the authority of certain divines of the Protestant Church, and openly to declare that peculiar opinions ought not to be fastened upon the Reformed Churches; and moreover, that it might be retorted on Bellarmin that there were some also among the scholastics, and other popish divines, from whose writings the selfsame consequences might be deduced [Vid. ep. Arm. ad C. Vorst. 25.

Aug. 1607. item. Ep. prid. Kal. April 1609.].

Arminius finding himself in this manner contending from day to day against the slanders of adversaries, used to complain to himself that he was set down by his brethren as a sort of mere 'filth and offscourings;' while by those who at this time enjoyed his intimacy, he was heard on several occasions uttering with a groan, and adapting to his own infelicitous lot, these words of the prophet Jeremiah: 'Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.' [Jer.

xv. 10.].

Meanwhile, consulting at once for his reputation and for the tranquillity of the church, it pleased the Rulers of Holland to summon Arminius before their Assembly on the 30th of October, and to order him, in fulfilment of the pledge he had lately given, to deliver to them, briefly and perspicuously, orally, and in writing, his own opinion on all the heads of doctrine in reference to which he stood somewhat in doubt. Joyfully obedient to this mandate, on the day appointed he repaired to the Hague, and before that august assembly of the Illustrious Fathers of his country, he expounded, in a lengthened oration, his opinions respecting Divine Predestination, the Grace of God, Free Will, the Perseverance of the Saints, the Certainty of Salvation, the Perfection of Man in this life, the Deity of the Son, Justification, and the Reformation of the Confession and Catechism. The subject, however, on which he deemed it of special importance to insist, was that of Predestination; and therefore, besides fortifying hie own opinion on this point by a variety of reasons, he also asserted, at great length, the magnitude of the difficulties which beset the doctrine that was delivered by many divines of the Reformed Church. He showed and proved that a sentiment was propounded by some which conflicted with the nature of God, and his wisdom, justice, and goodness —

with the nature of man and his free will — with the work of creation — with the nature of eternal life and death — and, finally, with the nature of sin; that it was subversive of divine grace, opposed to the glory of God, and obstructive to the salvation of men; that it made God the author of sin, hindered sorrow on account of sin, did away with all pious solicitude, diminished the desire of piety, quenched the ardour of prayer, generated despair, inverted the gospel, impeded the ministry of the divine word, and, in fine, shook the foundations not of the Christian religion only, but of all religion whatsoever [Vid. Declar.

Arm. coram Ord.]. After expounding these particulars in a manly tone, and in succinct order, he at length brought his oration to a close in these striking words, so indicative of a mind devoted to the maintenance of Christian peace:— 'Such, my most noble, most potent, most wise, and most prudent Lords, is what I have thought it dutiful to lay before your Highnesses. At the same time, also, I give thanks to this most noble and potent Assembly (to which, after God, I acknowledge myself bound to render an account of all my actions,) that it has vouchsafed to listen to me with clemency and patience.

Still further, I solemnly declare that from my inmost soul I am prepared to enter into friendly and fraternal conference on these and all other points, respecting which any controversy may exist or ever occur, with my reverend brethren, at whatever time, in whatever place, and on whatever occasion shall to this illustrious Assembly seem good. Moreover, I promise to maintain in all these conferences a bearing flexible and fair, prepared alike to learn and to teach. Besides, when, on all the doctrines which may fall to be discussed, it comes to be inquired, in the first place, whether that which is the subject of debate be true, and the next place whether the belief of it ought to be regarded as necessary to salvation, I, for my part, solemnly promise and vow that no article, however I may prove it by the most solid arguments to be agreeable to the Word of God, shall by me be obtruded on my brethren who think differently as a thing to be believed, unless I clearly prove from the Divine Word, and that quite as clearly as I have proved its truth, that it is also necessary to salvation that every Christian should so believe it. If my brethren shall be ready to do the same, it will be no easy matter, in my judgment, for any controversy or schism to exist amongst us. To these things I add — in order that all apprehension, so far as I am concerned, may be removed from this noble convention, now occupied and oppressed with weighty affairs, as those on whom the safety of our country, and of the Reformed Churches, in the highest degree depends — that the errors must needs be very many and grievous which I will not forbear with in my ministerial brethren; for I am not one who would lord it over another's faith, but one who would merely be a servant to those believing, that in them may increase the knowledge of the truth, together with piety, peace, and joy in Jesus Christ our Lord. But if my brethren be of another mind, and think that I ought not to be borne with, and that no place should be allowed to me among them, I nevertheless hope that no division will arise by reason of me, seeing that too many divisions, alas, already abound among Christians, and it becomes every one rather to strive with all his might to get these same diminished and extinguished. But in this event, I will in patience possess my soul; and though it shall still be my aim to live for the good of our common Christianity, as long as the ever-blessed God may be pleased to prolong my life, I will cheerfully resign my office, mindful of this: Sat Ecclesiae, sat Patriae Datum: For the Church, and for my Country, my part has been discharged.'

Here ended Arminius. His oration, though listened to with great admiration and applause, from the modesty of the speaker, gave rise nevertheless to a diversity of judgments; some being of opinion that he had spoken nothing but what the exigency of just defence had demanded, while others accused him of over-much confidence, and of having used the sword rather than the shield.

At that time, and in the very month in which Arminius had delivered this declaration, in writing, into the hands of the States, the Synod of South Holland, held at Dort, decided that it should forthwith be sternly insisted on, that those pastors who had a leaning to Arminius should disclose whatever scruples or strictures they might have, relative to the Confession and Catechism, within the space of the month following that on which they received intimation, on pain of ecclesiastical censure to be inflicted on the contumacious [Praefat. Act. Synod Dordr.—Trigl. Hist. p. 416, 417.]. They further resolved that the same demand 'should in like manner be made of the Professors of Sacred Literature in the Leyden Academy, and of Peter Bertius, the moderator of the Theological College. The affair was pushed with great vehemence at the time, some breaking out very intemperately against those of their brethren who differed from them in opinion; so much so, indeed, that Ruard Acronius, pastor of the church at Schiedam was not afraid to call Francis Lansberg, who was simply striving to direct the counsels of this Assembly towards peace, a sink of dissensions [Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. p. 446.].

The States, however, apprehensive lest, by this ecclesiastical statute, their own decree to have the above-named writings revised in a National or Provincial Synod, should be eluded, and all but set at nought, gave orders in a letter addressed to the several Classes, dated Nov. 23, that whatever observations any one might have, were to be transmitted to them sealed, and entrusted to their custody against a Provincial Synod. By this step an end was forthwith put, in South Holland at least, to these hasty and ill-timed altercations, about subjecting those writings to a re-examination.

Notwithstanding these things, however, the churches of North Holland did not abate one jot of their zeal. For new forms of subscription were coined by them, which every Classis drew up according to its own mind; and that, too, so craftily that neither copy nor form of the subscription was granted, nor the day indicated to him who demanded the day. In other places, also, new tests were proposed, and promises exacted to explain the Catechism as it had been explained in the Church during the time of the Spanish persecution [Vid.

Press. Declar. Rem. p. 63.]. And that statutes of this description might not pass for spent thunderbolts, they actually went the length, in the Classis of Alkmaar, of interdicting the pulpit, and a seat in the Classis, to four ministers

— Adrian Van Raepherst, Arnold Folkartson, John Evertson Van Velsen, and William Lomannus, who were favourable to Arminius, and refused to subscribe these new formularies:— a stretch of authority of which the supreme magistracy in the first instance had not been made aware, and which they straightway, withal, disapproved and contravened [Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. p 454.].

In addition to all this, the deputies of both Synods further resolved to convey by letter an urgent request to Gomarus that he would come to the aid of the afflicted Church (we may be permitted here to use their own words), and not shrink from assaulting, in open conflict, Arminius himself, who in the public Assembly of the rulers had uttered so many things against the common opinion of the Church. This divine thought that the request was one which ought on no account to be refused; and having previously obtained liberty to speak, on the 12th of December he presented himself before the Assembly of the States of Holland and West Friesland, and delivered himself of a vehement oration against Arminius. He accused him of 'various heresies and gross errors under which he laboured in reference to the received doctrine concerning the grace of God and the free will of man; concerning the justification of man in the sight of God; concerning the perfection of man in this life; concerning predestination; concerning original sin, and other points connected with the forenamed doctrines; how well in certain things he agreed with the Pelagians and Jesuits, while in others his views were worse and still more corrupt than theirs; what just grounds he had moreover given for the suspicion that he also cherished corrupt opinions concerning the authority of the Sacred Scriptures; concerning the Holy Trinity; concerning the incarnation and satisfaction of Christ; concerning the Church; concerning faith, regeneration, and good works, and other subjects of great importance. By what arts, still further, did he disseminate his opinions! When publicly asked, for example, and adjured by the churches to lay open his doubts, he had nevertheless to that hour concealed his own sentiments, but had diligently inculcated them in private to such pastors as he hoped to be able to gain over to them, as well as to his students; the principal arguments by which the orthodox doctrine is usually built up he set himself to invalidate; but to those of Jesuits, and other adversaries with which they attack the doctrine of the Reformed Churches, he lent his support; he struck into the minds of his disciples a variety of doubts respecting the truth of the received doctrine, and first suspended it, along with the heterodox doctrine, as if in aequilibrio, and then utterly rejected it; after having called the Pope of the Romanists antichrist and an idol, straightway, to please the Jesuits, he further calls him his brother, and a member of that church which is the mother of the faithful; that he shunned the light, — never to this hour having consented to give forth any declaration of his soundness and agreement in doctrine, although very often affectionately and fraternally urged by the churches to do so; that he had laboured hard to prevent his errors, which had been detected before the Supreme Court, from becoming known to the churches; that, spurning the judgment and decrees of Synods, Classes, and Consistories, he had leaped at the first emergency to the tribunal of the Supreme Magistrate, and studied by courtly arts to conciliate favour for himself, but procure hatred for the churches. He (Gomarus) was not insensible how very difficult it was, and how hazardous a task, to encounter those who, while studying innovations, were in blushing honour at the Court, and rejoiced in a courtly trumpeter [Alluding to Uitenbogaert.] of his innocence and virtue; and that Constantine himself, in olden time, had attached such importance to the eloquence and surreptitious arts of that courtly preacher, Eusebius, as to be influenced by his vote in the Council of Nice to acquit Arius after he had been condemned. Still, however, trusting to the goodness of his cause, he hoped better things of the constancy of the States; and inasmuch as the students of theology in the Leyden Academy, and many pastors up and down, were daily swerving from the orthodox doctrine, strifes and contentions prevailed, the churches were disturbed, and the citizens were split up into parties, he abjured them as speedily as possible to convoke the promised National Synod, in which, after a legitimate investigation into the causes of the evils, an appropriate remedy might at length be applied to the same.' [E Praefat. Act. Synod. Dordr.—

Uitenb. Hist. Eccles. p. 455. et seqq.].

This is a summary of that oration which was delivered by Gomarus; and by most of the magnates it was regarded as abundantly stinging, containing, as it did, many things that were offensively spoken, and of which Arminius, on more occasions than one, had, by arguments the most solid, cleared himself of all suspicion, — particularly in regard to those things that were advanced respecting the Pope of Rome. For this reason the States resolved that this oration should be kept under the seal of silence, and that no copy of it should be handed to Arminius, lest occasion might be furnished for further alienation of spirit. Nay, on accurately weighing the whole affair, they began to shrink more and more from, the idea of convoking a Synod, and to decline convoking it at this time as useless to the Church and to the country. For they happened to be perplexed by very serious disputes concerning the truce, in which the Grand Pensionary of Holland, Oldenbarneveldt, and the illustrious Commander of the Army and Prefect of Military Affairs, Prince Maurice, were far from being at one. A further obstacle presented itself in the disposition evinced by so many ministers of religion to trample under foot and set at nought the authority of the Supreme Powers in relation to sacred things, assailing with special virulence the primary decree already mentioned, in terms of which it had been agreed that a Synod of the kind contemplated might be held with advantage. Besides, they had reason to fear that the minds of the ecclesiastics were too much exasperated by these very serious discussions respecting matters of faith, to warrant the hope, now that things had reached such a pass, of any remedy being applied by a formal convention of that kind to the contagion that rioted throughout the Church.

Nay more, considering that the blasts of contention were increasing in violence, and that in various quarters some, in an attitude of open hostility, were doing their utmost to compass the ejection of their fellow-pastors from the Church, the most of those who sat at the helm of the State thought it very hard indeed to expose to the rage of a few the reputation and worldly prospects of those who had amply approved themselves as citizens most obedient to their mandates; as pastors most acceptable to their churches; and as leaders of the Reformed religion, by no means inactive, even at the time when the destiny of the Low Countries quivered on the point of the sword.

When at this time, therefore, the pastors sent by the Classes of Holland importuned them to convoke a Provincial Synod, the rulers, perceiving that they were goaded on by a most inordinate desire for the condemnation of Arminius and his followers, rejected their petition, adding, 'that they had no objection to give their sanction to a Synod at any time, provided it would abstain from the rash and precipitate condemnation of brethren, and yield to the wish of the rulers that they would not molest their fellow-pastors on account of these controversies until the matter should be more fully investigated and examined in a National Synod, and an agreement come to by which the churches might regain their common tranquillity and concord.'

[Resp. ad Epist. Wal. p. 18. 19.]. Reverting to this circumstance at a subsequent period, H. Grotius, that brilliant star and prodigy of the Low Countries, remarked, — and apparently with truth, — that the States had the same reason for dreading the Synod as that which formerly led the very sagacious Philip, Prince of Hesse, when invited to a Synod by Flacius Illyricus and other theologians of Jena, to reply, 'that as long as there existed that violence of spirit, and that rage for condemning those who differed from them in opinion, even in the least degree, — a disposition which every day exemplified, — no good could be expected from such conventions.' [Grot.

pietas Ord. p. 51.].

CHAPTER XII.

EVER-INCREASING CONTENTIONS, AMID WHICH THE HEALTH OF

ARMINIUS GIVES WAY; FINAL CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE IN

AUGUST 1609: HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. A.D. 1609.

Meanwhile Arminius, by reason of incessant labours, assiduous studies, protracted sitting, and contests recurring without any intermission, had contracted hypochondriacal affections, which ripened at length into obstinate disease. This distemper, which had very long been latent in his internal parts, broke out with special violence on the 7th of February, in the following year.

His members were affected by internal languor, and his stomach utterly debilitated; so much so, that his medical attendants at once saw it to be necessary to subject him to slow and cautious treatment. But although, at the commencement of the attack, the sufferer could scarcely drag his body along, nevertheless, afterwards, during some favourable intervals, he regained his vigour of mind, and intermitted nothing, as far as his infirm health would permit, of his readings, disputations, and other duties of his calling; nor was he ever neglectful of his own cause. Of this he gave brilliant evidence in a certain disputation which he publicly held a few months after, on the 25th July, Concerning the Call of Man to Salvation. On this occasion, Arminius acted a very spirited part; and in eloquent terms not only denied that irresistible and necessitating force which some of the Reformed represent God as exerting in the conversion of men, but further proceeded to prove that the Divine call turns on this, either that God supplies, or is ready to bestow, the power to perform that to which, in his call, he invites mankind. He further added, 'that he neither could, nor dared, to define the mode which the Holy Spirit employs in the conversion and regeneration of men. If any one will venture to do so, on him devolves the burden of proof. For himself, he could say in what manner conversion did not take place, but he could not say in what manner it did; for this only He knows who searches the deep things of God.' To this it was objected that there was a certain kind of grace by which men are infallibly converted, and from this it was directly argued that conversion was necessitated; in answer to which, Arminius took occasion to discourse at some length on what the schoolmen call, though very improperly, the necessity of infallibility; and added, 'that the scholastics were not to him the standard of speech, or of faith, seeing that they began to exist only when Antichrist was in course of being revealed, and that their theology had not made way until the true and apostolic theology had been driven into exile.'

After a period of nearly two whole hours had been lengthened out by two opponents, a certain Papist, who passed off his name as Adrian Smetius, and whom some took for a priest, others for a Jesuit, boldly descended into the arena against Arminius, and assailed his opinion on the point in question with a variety of arguments. While Arminius was ever and anon replying to these with prompt and collected mind, Gomarus assumed various colours on the occasion; and that he might not present the appearance of a merely passive listener, he varied his gestures now and then; at one time taking notes; at another whispering something into the ear of Everard Vorstius, Professor of medicine, who sat next him; now casting his eyes over the audience, which was very large; and now muttering something between his lips. Nay, he looked as if he felt an intense desire to contradict the things advanced in the course of the disputation, but repressed himself; — after such a fashion, however, that these, or similar words, fell from him in the overflow of his indignation, — What impudence is this? Moreover, after the disputation had come to a close, he had scarcely reached the hall door, when he broke out in the words: The reins have been remarkably well loosened for the Papacy this day. Directly after, in like manner, making up to Arminius, he exclaimed in the presence and hearing of the Jesuit, 'that he had never, in the Academy, listened to such statements and disputations, by which the door was thrown so widely open to Popery.' Arminius replied, 'that he had given satisfaction to his own conscience, and denied that what he had advanced made anything at all in favour of Popery.' Gomarus forthwith rejoined 'that he would refute these things, and that too in public.' Arminius: 'If anything be said which is opposed to my conscience, I promise you that I, in my turn, will openly gainsay it.'

Gomarus: 'I shall not be wanting in my duty to the cause.' Arminius: 'Neither shall I be wanting, I confidently trust. But let us test each other in due time, and to me it is certain that the opinion of an irresistible force will be found repugnant alike to the Sacred Scripture, to antiquity, and to our Confession and Catechism.' [Vide his de hac disput. Epist. Borrii ad Epist. 30 Julii script.

inter Epist. Eccles.].

After holding this disputation, he repaired to Oudewater with the view of recruiting his health; and there, on the very night which followed the debate just narrated, he was seized with a most violent paroxysm, which once more shattered his strength, and struck alarm into the minds of all who enjoyed his care and his intimacy. Simon Episcopius, in particular, who had by this time gone to Franeker, mainly for the sake of hearing the lectures of Drusius, felt very deeply affected by the adverse health of his great Preceptor (whom he was wont to address by the name of father), as these words to Arminius abundantly testify:—

'Reverend Doctor and esteemed Father:— Although I have not written you since my departure, I trust you will attribute this, not to any forgetfulness of you, or supine and ungrateful indifference to your claims, but partly to my assurance of the peculiar affection which I have very forcibly and confidently flattered myself you cherish towards me, and partly, and very principally, to my desire not to be officiously troublesome to you, already too much harassed; especially considering that over and above your serious and grave occupations, which, by a universal and simultaneous rush, are now, I well know, accumulating upon your head, you are ever and anon distracted by the oft-recurring agonies of an obstinate disease. In these circumstances, not having the boldness to address you, nor the ability to cheer and refresh you, I deemed it enough to convey to you my grateful remembrance, and the frequent expression of my affection, through those to whom I occasionally wrote. How I wish, Reverend Sir!— and O that God might grant,—that it may be permitted us to have a joyous remembrance of you in this truly abandoned age, to which God appears to have given promise of some remedy through your instrumentality. Would that it may not prove to have been promise merely! For how stands the case? Alas! amid our anxious longings, and repeated attempts to brace up our minds to the confidence of hope, the only intelligence we receive is that your disease has not yet abated, but holds obstinately on, and that it is irritated by the malignant and choleric conduct of certain parties which causes it to relapse with increased severity. For my part, if you will only concede to me the capability of weighing your circumstances with some measure of justice, and estimating, in some sort, at once the utility and the necessity of your prelections, you need be at no loss to imagine how deeply I am distressed by the present visitation. Ungrateful should I be were any day to pass over my head which did not, at frequent intervals, remind and admonish me of your disease, — a consideration, in truth, which so afflicts me from day to day, that, along with it, a sort of sympathetic participation of your malady ever affects and invades me. Would to God this went so far, that some alleviation or solace might thence redound to you! But perhaps it may not seem good to our God to bless any longer through your instrumentality this unwilling, ungrateful, and refractory world, which does not choose to know the things that make for its peace, or to recognise the tune of its visitation.'

[Epist. Eccles. pag. 298.].

Meanwhile, as the rising controversies, which had now for some time been transferred from the schools to the pulpit, — yea and to the market-places, the streets, and the porticos, — engaged the minds of men alike of the highest and of the lowest rank; and while many, through ignorance, were assigning to Arminius the opinion of Gomarus, and to Gomarus the opinion of Arminius, some person, in the course of this year (1609), with the view of enabling every one to understand more accurately the state of this controversy, published a translation from the Latin into the vernacular tongue of the Theses of both the professors on the subject of Predestination, as they had been defended by them respectively a few years before (viz. in 1604). These were followed by a Dialogue from the pen of R. Donteklok, minister of Delft, in which he asserted that the opinion of Arminius was altogether opposed to the Reformed doctrine as received in the Low Countries, and was such as could not be tolerated in any divine; while the opinion of Gomarus, on the other hand, although in his judgment it soared beyond the prevailing opinion, was nevertheless fairly reconcileable therewith. This Dialogue was promptly refuted, and the fame of Arminius vindicated, by J. Arnold Corvinus, minister of the church at Leyden, in a pamphlet he published under the title of A Christian and Serious Admonition to Christian Peace. To this pamphlet not long after, Donteklok replied. The friends of Arminius, too, with the view of dissipating the very sinister rumours with which he had been assailed, translated about this time from the Latin, and submitted to the judgment of the public, his Theses on The Providence of God concerning Evil; On Man's Free Will and its Efficacy; and also those On Indulgences and Purgatory, which were put out against the Papists. But these minor publications so far from promoting the peace of the Church, operated, as the discord daily increased, like oil poured upon the flame.

Taking this into consideration, it pleased the States of Holland and Westfriesland that a friendly conference should be held anew before their assembly betwixt Gomarus and Arminius, in regard to the articles controverted between them, in which either professor for himself might choose four ministers of whose counsels it should be competent to him to avail himself. Arminius made choice of John Uitenbogaert of the Hague, Adrian Borrius of Leyden, Nicolas Grevinkovius of Rotterdam, and Adolphus Venator of Alkmaar. Gomarus, on the other hand, chose R. Acronius of Schiedam, James Eoland of Amsterdam, John Bogard of Haarlem, and Festus Hommius of Leyden.

The first and second days were consumed by various wranglings and tergiversations. In particular, Gomarus thought that Adolphus Venator was not worthy to take part in the convention, inasmuch as he had been ordered by the Classis of Alkmaar to desist for the time being from the discharge of ecclesiastical functions, on the ground of impure doctrine, and of his refusal to subscribe to the Confession and Catechism; for which reasons he demanded that another should be substituted in his place. The States rejoined that the censure thus inflicted by the Classis contravened the decree which they (the States) had issued with respect to the revisal of these formularies of agreement; and this censure, having thus been rendered by them null and void, availed nothing against Adolphus in any respect.

A lengthened discussion then ensued on the subject of this revisal; the States demanding that this point should be handled first, as the hinge on which their own decree turned as to the holding of a Synod. After the two professors had debated the matter at full length, Uitenbogaert took occasion, in a weighty speech, to expound his mind also on this same point.

At last, when about to enter upon the real question, Gomarus appealed from this political to an ecclesiastical tribunal, before which he was prepared to discuss the controverted points in the presence of delegates from the States

[Vid. Uitenbog. Hist. pag. 462.].

The States, on the other hand, refused to sustain any such appeal; told him to break off these tergiversations; and added, 'that if he prolonged his pertinacious opposition they would see to what, in the circumstances, it was their duty to do.' This brought Gomarus to dismiss his quibbles; and on the day following he declared his readiness to obey the mandate of the rulers, but on these conditions:—

I. That this conference be conducted in writing, to be handed in on both sides.

II. That these writings be delivered to the National Synod for their inspection and adjudication, in order that the right of judgment, in an ecclesiastical cause, might be reserved entire to the churches.

III. That the conference commence with the subject of Justification [Praefet.

Act. Synod.].

After some discussion as to the order in which the various articles ought to be considered, Arminius at length gave his consent that the one to be first handled should be Justification. The States, however, ruled that the conference should be conducted viva voce; yet not to the exclusion of Writing, when used as an aid to the memory. They further engaged, in a public letter pledging themselves to that effect, that the cause, after they had investigated it in that conference, should be reserved to the judgment of a Provincial Synod, and that, for this end, all things that might there be transacted viva voce, should subsequently be committed to writing, and that these documents would in due course be handed over to the Synod.

Among the first articles treated of at this conference, the controversy concerning Justification led the way; just as, on a previous occasion, it had also been discussed before the Supreme Court. This turned mainly on the sense of the apostle's phrase, that 'faith is imputed for righteousness' [Rom.

iv. 5.]. Both doctors agreed in holding that the passage referred to treated of faith properly so called, but differed on the question, whether faith was the instrument of justification? Gomarus held the affirmative. Arminius held the negative; maintaining that faith could not properly be called an instrument, seeing it was an action; or, if the name instrument must be claimed for it, it would then be the instrument, not of justification, which is an act of the Divine mind, but of the apprehension or reception of Christ as our Redeemer, which is a human act: and that faith is graciously regarded by God, in the act of justifying, as having already fulfilled its function [Rom. iv. 5. Ex Epist. A Borrii ad G. Liv. non dum edita. 29 Septemb. 1609. Vide et Uitenb. Hist. pag. 469.].

In the second place they treated of Predestination, and first of all, of the object of election and reprobation: whether God in electing and reprobating, in one and the same act, regarded his creatures as not yet created, — as in the void of nothing, — or, on the other hand, as created: further, if he regarded them as created, whether he regarded them as sinners, or otherwise; if, as sinners, whether as sinners solely by the sin of Adam, or on the other hand, as sinners defiled by other sins also: finally, and as the crowning point, whether he contemplated those to be chosen as also believing and penitent, and those to be reprobated as unbelieving and impenitent. Arminius maintained this, Gomarus the opposite; a variety of arguments being adduced on either side.

The third place was occupied with the controversy concerning the grace of God and the free will of man. Each acknowledged that man of himself, and by his own powers, could accomplish nothing whatever in the shape of saving good; nay, Arminius declared, 'that he admitted all the operations of divine grace whatsoever, which could be maintained as present in the conversion of man, provided that no grace were maintained which was irresistible.' [Praefat.

Act. Synod.]. This Gomarus disputed; maintaining that, in the regeneration of man, a certain grace of the Holy Spirit was needed which should operate so efficaciously 'that, the resistance of the flesh being thereby overcome, as many as became partakers of this grace would be certainly and infallibly converted.' He added that a great ambiguity lurked in the word irresistible, and that the opinion, formerly condemned, of the Semi-pelagians and Synergists lay wrapped up in it.

The last topic of discussion was the Perseverance of true believers; and here the question was stirred, not indeed, whether the children of God can fall away from salvation, but whether a man who has once believed cannot, by any possibility, fall away from faith. This was a doctrine which Arminius declared he had by no means opposed, or meant to oppose; but he intimated that his mind was perplexed by several difficulties on this subject, and he adduced various reasons for the doubts he entertained. To these Gomarus replied; after which the disputants were asked whether any articles yet remained on which they mutually differed. Gomarus rejoined that there were several; namely, concerning Original Sin, concerning the providence of God, concerning the authority of the Holy Scriptures, concerning the certainty of Salvation, concerning the perfection of man in this life, and various others, in regard to which he left it to the discretion of the illustrious States whether they should be discussed in this place, especially as they must again come under discussion in the Synod [Praefat. Act. Synod.].

But as the shattered health of Arminius, which betrayed itself by too evident symptoms under this very conference, appeared unable to sustain any longer the effort of debate, it pleased the States to break it short. They also ordered the disputants to deliver each his own opinion, drawn up in writing, with the arguments on which it rested, and a refutation of the contrary, within the space of fourteen days; to remain in possession of the States till the Provincial Synod. There were present at the Conference from the city of Amsterdam, the honourable rulers, Jacob Boelius Cornelius P. F. Hoofdius, Cronhout, Sebestian Egberts, Jonas Witzen, and Elb. Verius, Syndic of Amsterdam [Ex Epist. vernacula Jac Arminii ad R. Episcop. 26 Aug. 1609.]. After the conference had thus come to a close, it further seemed good to the States, to summon before them apart, the assessors of each doctor, that they might severally state their opinions, not only in regard to the importance of these controversies, but also as to the remedies by which they might be allayed. On this point, however, there was the utmost diversity of sentiment. Those who stood by Gomarus exaggerated the importance of the controversies, and indicated no remedy other than the convocation, as speedily as possible, of a Provincial or National Synod. On the other hand, the assessors and coadjutors of Arminius, on being heard by themselves, gave it as their opinion, that 'that question concerning justification was either of no importance, or at most of very trivial importance, and could be settled without difficulty, if acrimony and ill-will were but laid aside, and due homage paid to peace and truth. With regard to the opinion of Arminius concerning Predestination, and questions therewith connected, considering that it was in harmony with Sacred Scripture, as well as simple, easily intelligible, and free of subtleties, they thought that it commended itself as much the better adapted of the two for the ends of consolation and instruction. In favour of Arminius was the entire tenor of the gospel; while the opinion of Gomarus transcended the gospel: and he himself, in a certain thesis, had ultroneously confessed that the doctrine of predestination, as he taught it, did not, properly speaking, pertain to the gospel.

The Rev. J. Uitenbogaert next, in name of all the rest, discoursed, in an oration replete with varied erudition and eloquence, concerning the causes of the growing dissensions, and how they were to be remedied; what care in these controversies belonged to the States; and how far in this matter their power extended [Vide Orationem hanc in Uitenbog. His. lib. 3. p. 480.]. But particularly in regard to the Synod, which most believed to be the sheet-anchor of the imperilled Church, he declared 'that it was by no means useless, yea, that it might, according to the state of times and circumstances, be necessary, provided care were taken to prevent, — what the famous Beza elsewhere affirmed of the assemblies of the Ancient Church, — the devil from acting in it as president; to foreclose which danger there did not exist any remedy more effectual, than that the illustrious Rulers, according to the authority which they possessed, should convoke a Synod thoroughly free and just, in which not only Arminius and Gomarus, but all who may happen to have some doubts and strictures on the controversies referred to, may be fully heard, and their reasons duly weighed according to the Sacred Volume. It ought, moreover, to be taken into consideration what was the aim which that Synod should, propose to itself. Under the impulse of that prejudiced sentiment and high tide of excitement by which at this time they were borne along, the greater part had this only as the object of their desire, that the majority should condemn the minority, and pronounce judgment in reference to these controversies in a manner altogether definitive and peremptory; and what sort of evils would thenceforth rush from that fountain, no candid discerner of events could be at a loss to conjecture. This Synod, therefore, ought to be convened for friendly conference between parties opposed to each other on controverted points, and to see whether they might not be able to agree among themselves. But if there seemed nothing to warrant the hope that this matter would be disposed of so promptly, and at one assembly, the safety of the State and Church would be best consulted were the illustrious States, by a formula of mutual forbearance on points that are less essential, to put an end in some measure, if only for a time, to such ecclesiastical contentions.'

Shortly after these transactions, Gomarus transmitted in writing, within the time prescribed by the States, those opinions which he had orally defended before their assembly [Prefat. Act. Synod.]. Arminius, however, on being conveyed home from the Hague, had scarcely composed himself to the task of obeying the mandates of the rulers, when the disease in its malignant form again attacked him anew, and that with an aggravated severity proportioned to the increased intensity it had gained from a harassed mind and debilitated energies. But he in the highest degree consoled himself, according to God and the testimony of his conscience, with this one reflection, that in the supreme Assembly of all Holland he had been patiently listened to by his most clement lords, to whose prudence he attributed so much as to encourage the hope that, in the event of his death, there would not be wanting among them those who, once satisfied of the justice of his cause, would throw around it the protective influence of their wisdom and favour. He sent, however, by letter, on the 12th September, a modest excuse to the States as to his inability to fulfil their commands by the appointed day; in which he stated, 'that he was confined to a sick-bed, after having already drawn up a considerable part of the prescribed document, which now, — such being the will of the Divine Disposer, — he was obliged to break off. His having been heard on a previous occasion, and the whole case at that time having been exhibited in writing, might be accepted in discharge of the present necessity. If, however, they at all desired the portion he had executed, he would take care either that, in the event of his being by the grace of Christ restored to health, they should have the whole perfect and entire, or that, in the event of his decease, they should have it in its abrupt and imperfect form. With regard, however, to the Confession he had given forth, so far was he from entertaining any doubt respecting it, that, on the contrary, he stedfastly believed it to be throughout in accordance with Scripture; he therefore persisted in it, being prepared with this very faith to appear, even at that very moment, before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Judge of the living and of the dead.'

[Uitenbog. Hist. pag. 470.—Bertii Oratio pag. 36.].

Meanwhile, his disease gathered strength every day, in spite of every effort to arrest it by those most eminent and practised physicians, Doctors Pavius, Sebastian Egberts, Henry Saelius, and Reyner Bontius. The virulence of the malady, moreover, too deeply seated for medical art and appliance to eradicate it, daily developed new symptoms — fever, cough, enlargement of the hypochondria, difficulty of respiration, oppression from food, broken sleep, atrophy, and arthritis, which allowed the sufferer no rest. In complication with these were intestinal pains, — in the ilium and colon; together with affection of the left optic nerve, and dimness of the left eye. When this last affection became known, there were some who, abating nothing even then of their wonted rancour against him, did not scruple to interpret it as one of the judgments dealt out to the contemners of the Divine Majesty. To give some speciousness to this outrage, they bandied about, with application to Arminius, these words of the inspired prophet Zechariah [Chap. xiv. 12.], in which he speaks of the wasting away of the eyes and of the whole body: 'This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.' To this passage, they appended another from the same prophetic book [Chap. xi. 17.]. 'Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.' ['And yet,' says Bertius, in allusion to this barbarous diversion, 'it was not "his right eye" that was affected, but his left; nor was it "utter darkness," but only a dimness; nor was his arm "clean dried up," but it was swollen. His tongue, too, articulately fulfilled its office to the very last. In this manner things above, and things below, on the right and the left, divine and human, are alike made to subserve the will of these wretched oracular expounders of the mysteries of Providence! '—Orat. in obit. Arminii.—TR.].

There were some also who, by a play on the name James Armimus (Jacobus Arminius) made him out to be a friend of this vain world. (Vani Orbis Amicus.) While others, subsequently, with the view of pouring ridicule upon this anagram, worked up another from the same name, with the addition of a single letter [The letter h, which occurs in his original name Hermanns.], in which he is himself introduced as saying, I have had a care for Sion. (habui Curam Sionis.) Meanwhile Arminius, though day by day the violence of the disease shook his frame more and more, preserved unshaken his constancy of mind and placidity of temper, and retained his power of articulate utterance to the very close of life. Nor did he betray the least abatement of his wonted cheerfulness of aspect, and kindliness of disposition; charging his afflicted and anguish-stricken wife to be resigned in spirit, and very often exhorting her to put her trust in the God of the widow.

Very frequently, too, and with the utmost fervour, did he pour out his supplications unto God, both for himself, and for the prosperity and peace of the church; and in all his conversations he testified his unmoved confidence, and thoroughly unshaken hope in Christ the Saviour. And if his brethren addressed themselves to prayer on his behalf, and he happened at the time to be overpowered by pain, he would request them now and then to pause, until he had recovered himself, and become able along with them to go through this solemn exercise.

Among many forms of prayer which he specially enjoyed, and frequently used, the following were prominent: 'O Lord Jesus, thou faithful and merciful High Priest, who consentedst to be in all things tempted like as we are, yet without sin, that, taught by this experience how hard it is to obey God in sufferings, thou mightest be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, have compassion on me, succour me, thy servant prostrate, and pressed with so many maladies. O God of my salvation, make my soul fit for thy heavenly kingdom, and my body for the resurrection. Great Shepherd of the sheep, who, through the blood of the everlasting covenant hast been brought again from the dead, O Lord and Saviour Jesus, be present with me, an infirm and afflicted sheep of thine.' [Vide Bertii Orat. Funebr. in obitum J. Arminii pag.

40.]. Very often to the friends at his bedside did he repeat the twentieth and following verse of the 13th chapter of Hebrews, from which he had drawn this last form of prayer; and this passage of Holy Writ he used to utter with such ardour of mind and overflowing fervour of spirit, that the Rev. Bartholomew Praevostius, a disciple most worthy of such a preceptor, and who was afterwards pastor of the Remonstrant church in Amsterdam, was wont to declare that it remained ever after indelibly fixed in his memory, and vividly present to his mind.

About the same time, also, from a desire to pay the last offices of piety to his preceptor, the very learned Simon Episcopius hastened from Franeker to Holland, and for several days and nights kept close by his bedside, interchanging much conversation with him on the subject of religion, the state of the Church, the knowledge of the Saviour, and the efficacy of his death and resurrection [Vide vitam Episcop. a Ph. Limburg. concionibus ejus praefixam.].

Moreover, on being admonished by his physicians, as his strength declined, of the urgent propriety, considering the uncertain issues of life, of setting his house in order, and embodying in a last will whatever charges he might wish to leave, so little did he dread the approach of the fatal hour, that he resigned himself to death with truly admirable composure of mind, and set himself to transact whatever duty required of a Christian teacher and head of a family. At this solemn season, accordingly, he drew up a testament, truly Christian in its character; and dictated in it a brief statement of his aims and manner of life.

Mark the following confession of the dying man, as a signal index and evidence of his piety.

'First of all, I commend my soul, when it quits the body, into the hands of God its creator, and faithful preserver, in whose presence I testify that in simplicity and sincerity I have walked with a good conscience in my office and calling; very anxiously and scrupulously on my guard not to propound or teach aught which, by diligent application to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, I had not previously found to be in strictest harmony with these writings:— whatsoever things might prove conducive to the propagation and extension of the truth of the Christian religion, of the worship of the true God, of piety in general, and holy conversation among men, — in fine, to the tranquillity and peace, according to the Word of God, which becomes the Christian name; excluding the Papacy, with which no unity of faith, no bond of piety or Christian peace, can be maintained.'

These things having been transacted, and all his affairs set in order, the few days that yet remained were spent in the invocation of Christ the Saviour, and in meditation on the better life. During this period, his reverend brethren, J.

Uitenbogaert and Adrian Borrius, who were each closely knit to him in the bonds of a most intimate friendship contracted many years before, and by a community of vicissitudes of a varied and critical kind, excelled all others in their assiduous attentions, which were to him most grateful, and refreshed his spirit by their much relished conversations and prayers. But at length, on the 19th of October, about noon, amidst the prayers of his friends, with his eyes upturned towards heaven, he peacefully yielded up to his creator God, his soul, brimful of this world's woes, already longing for release, and enjoying a foretaste of celestial bliss; several present exclaiming, as he breathed out his spirit, 'O my soul, let me die the death of the righteous!' [Bertii Oratio Funebr.

pag. 43.—Et Uitenb. Hist. pag. 483.].

Thus died James Arminius, having completed a period of six years in the professorship, and in the 49th year of his age — a truly mournful loss, not only to the Academy and the Christian community, but also, and most of all, to his widow and nine children, of whom the eldest at that time had little more than attained the 17th year of his age. Among these were two little daughters, Gertrude and Angelica; the rest were males — Hermann, Peter, John, Lawrence, James, William, and Daniel; of whom, Lawrence, on reaching manhood, became a merchant in the city of Amsterdam, while Daniel prosecuted the medical art with the highest reputation. The remaining sons, after the decease of their beloved father, died in the very flower of their youth.

CHAPTER XIII.

SKETCH OF THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF ARMINIUS; WITH A VARIETY OF TESTIMONIES IN REGARD TO HIM BOTH FROM FRIENDS

AND FOES. A.D. 1609.

On the day on which Arminius was interred, Peter Bertius, regent of the theological college, and a most accomplished man, publicly conducted the solemnities by a funeral oration in honour of Arminius, in the theological hall.

In this oration (from which, in the present little work, we have very freely drawn,) he gives some brief account of the life and excellences of the deceased; adding towards the close, that his blessed memory ought to be embalmed in the Christian Church, with this elogium: 'There lived in Holland a man, whom they that did not know him could not sufficiently esteem; whom they who did not esteem him had never sufficiently known.'

The same kind office which Bertius performed in his prose oration, was also publicly rendered in song by these world-renowned men and consummate poets, Dominic Baud and Hugh Grotius, whose elegiac poems we have subjoined at the close of this memoir. To these we add a distinguished little poem of Daniel Heinsius, omitted in the collection of his poems, — for what reasons, it is not difficult to conjecture, — in which, by means of a comparison which he institutes between Arminius, the champion of the ancient liberty of the Batavians, and our Arminius, he thus celebrates, in a strain of singular elegance, the service rendered by the latter in withstanding the tyranny of the Romanists:—

'In Obitum Rev. D. Jacobi Arminii, Summi Pontificiorum Oppugnatoris.'

'Ingentem Dominum rerum Martisque nepotem

Germanus olim fregit Armini vigor,

Ausus inaccessam Romano opponere gentem,

Nihil timere doctus et fortis mori.

Horruit et nostro Tiberis se subdidit Albi,

Martisque gentem faedus invasit timor.

Quintiliae cecidere acies, terramque momordit

Ferox juventus, unico minor viro.

Nunc alter Batavo de sanguine fortis et acer,

Et veritate armatus, et fandi potens.

Mendacem invasit sublimi pectore Romam,

Sic fuit in fatis: laudem hanc Germinia servas,

Bis Roma nostros non tulisti Arminios.'

[The name of this ancient patriot was Hermann (i.e., chiefman, or chieftain), latinised by Tacitus and other Roman historians into Arminius. He flourished at the very commencement of our era, and withstood the power of imperial Rome in many a hard-fought field. The particular exploit here alluded to was the total destruction, by the hand of Arminius and his German warriors, of three Roman legions under Quintilius Varus, who, with their general, fell almost to a man in the woody pass of the Teutoburger Wald — an event which struck terror into the heart of Rome, the aged Emperor Augustus calling out in his grief for Varus to give him back his legions. This will sufficiently explain the allusions that occur in this little piece, the conception of which was furnished by the coincidence in the two names, and in Rome being in each case the party opposed. The versification is exquisite to a degree which renders translation an uninviting and somewhat perilous task. But for the sake of the English reader, in whose special service we are now engaged, we will adventure the following:—

On the death of the Rev. Doctor James Arminius, a renowned opposer of the Papists.

Rome's lordly legions, sprung of Mars,

Of old the valiant Hermann broke;

Untaught to fear, untamed by wars,

The dauntless Germans spurned the yoke.

Old Tiber, trembling at the shock,

Bowed to our Elbe his crested pride;

Hosts melted under Hermann's stroke.

The flower of Rome in battle died;

And Varus' legions sunk undone,

Crushed by the giant might of one.

Behold another Hermann strong!

A Hermann of Batavian blood;

Begirt with truth, of golden tongue,

And lofty, lion hearted mood;

Apostate Rome he well withstood;

But now in death our hero sleeps,—

So Heaven decreed, all-wise and good,—

And o'er his tomb Germania weeps;

But 'Rome!' she boasts, 'Thou Queen of pride!

Thee have my Hermanns twice defied.'—TR.]

It now remains that we subjoin a brief sketch of Arminius, descriptive at once of his person and his mind. In bodily stature he did not exceed the medium size. His eyes were black and sparkling, indicating acuteness of mind and genius. His countenance was serene. His bodily temperament was sanguineous; his limbs wall compacted, and at the prime of life, somewhat robust. His voice was slender, indeed, but sweet, musical, and sharp. He was eloquent in an admirable degree: if any subject was to be embellished, if any discussed, it was done with distinctness; the pronunciation and intonation of voice being thoroughly adapted to the sense [Baudart Hist.]. As respects his general bearing, he was courteous and affable towards all, respectful to superiors, hospitable, cheerful, — and noway disinclined among his friends to harmless sallies of wit, by way of mental relaxation; but in all that constitutes the man of gravity, the Christian, and the consummate teacher of the church, as far as human infirmity could permit, he was second to none. He adored with profound veneration the supreme and ever-blessed God; and never allowed a day to pass without pious meditation, and perusal of the Sacred Scriptures, making a commencement with fervid prayers; and in order to make the greater progress in the cultivation of piety, and the truth, he occasionally followed up these prayers with fasting. He wished to be, rather than to appear pious; and regarded nothing as of greater moment than to regulate all his actions, not by the opinion of others, but by the dictate of a pure conscience; and to confirm by his own example the truth of his own maxim, in which he pre-eminently delighted: 'Bona Conscientia Paradisus' —

'A Good Conscience is a Paradise.'

As respects the cultivation of piety, and the regard to be paid to conscience, he also acknowledged that much on his part was due to the ecclesiastical function to which, in the very flower of his youth he had already been destined. For this reason, he marked off for special castigation those persons who, — as if they bore universal knowledge about with them locked up in the cabinet of their own breast, — judged themselves entitled, on being asked their opinion on any subject, to speak forth none other than oracular utterances to be received with open ears and obsequious minds. No object, moreover, lay nearer to his heart than to see the brands of discord extinguished, and the convulsed Christian community brought back to an agreement of mutual forbearance as respects controversies which do not shake the foundations of the true soul-saving faith. So intense was this desire, that the intemperate rage of denouncing dissentients, how trivial soever the point of difference, in matters of religious opinion, not unfrequently brought the tears to his eyes. Hence he often repeated, with deep emotion, the lament of Hilary, 'that while one is launching anathemas upon another, and driving him from the communion of the Church, scarcely a single soul is gained to Christ.'

[Uitenb. Hist. pag. 483.].

He rarely indulged in rhetorical garniture, and in the fragrant fineries of the Greeks, either because his nature was averse to such artifices, or because he deemed it derogatory to the majesty of divine things to call into requisition those classic names and adscititious embellishments, when the naked truth was sufficient for its own defence. He set a high value, however, as appears from his correspondence with Drusius [Epist. Eccles. pag. 33.], on the knowledge of the Hebrew and Oriental literature, by which not only the phrases of the sacred language, but also the antiquities of the ancient church of the Jews, with their rites, manners, and customs, both sacred and civil, might be discovered and explained. This he judged useful, and necessary to the ideal of a consummate theologian; and with those who attached little importance to these and kindred studies, he was in no small measure displeased. A keen debater on points connected with religion, and expert in using the subtilties of adversaries against themselves, he was in other respects disinclined to controversy, when no necessity for it existed; and he strove to make every doctrine, and all the powers of his mind and genius, subserve the aim of leading a life worthy of a Christian man. There was no air of haughtiness in his teaching; he was a mild and perspicuous interpreter of his thoughts; in argument circumspect; and so little inclined to self-confidence, that he refused to gratify the wishes of his importunate friends when they urged him to publish some work he had composed. On this very account, indeed, he was, wont to tax with no small measure of imprudence his eminent colleague, L. Trelcatius, junior, for having published, in his youthful years, A Body of Christian Theology in which, in his judgment, he had written many things, indeed, well, but many more that were little in harmony with the Sacred Scriptures [Arminii Epist. ad Uitenb. 3 Kal. Septemb. 1604].

As during his life, so after his death, he underwent judgments, on the part of many, of the most conflicting kind. Scarcely had Peter Bertius paid the last honours to him in a funeral oration, when Gomarus broke out against his deceased colleague, and the eulogiser of his virtues; and in a treatise which he published against him, he detracted much from the merits of both. Yea, the very poem in which the honourable Hugh Grotius had celebrated Arminius, was to him a great eyesore; the following verses, in particular, drew from him some bitter remarks:

Indigniore parte fractus et languens,

Meliore sospes, ilia millibus multis

Monstrata per te regna SOLUS arderes.

['Broken and powerless in thy meaner part (the body,) but sound in thy nobler part (the soul,) thou wert all on fire (TOTUS arderes) to gain those heavenly kingdoms to which, to many thousands, thou hadst pointed the way.' Such was the meaning of Grotius. But the blundering substitution, by the printer, of

'SOLUS,' 'alone,' for 'TOTUS,' 'entire,' made him represent Arminius as the only man of his order who cherished those heavenly aspirations. We have given a metrical version of (Grotius's Elegiac poem at the end. The part here quoted will be found in the 19th and 20th stanzas.—TR.]

That word SOLUS had excited much ill-feeling against this most celebrated poet, and also in relation to Arminius himself; the truth being, that owing to the negligence of the compositor, or some other who superintended the publication, that word had crept in, TOTUS being the word which should have occupied its place,—a circumstance of which Grotius himself informed Gomarus in the following letter (now published for the first time), in which he appropriately takes upon himself the defence of his elegiac poem:—

'To that Reverend and most distinguished man, Francis Gomarus, professor of theology in the Leyden Academy:

'I suppose, Reverend Sir, that you have seen my verses on the death of Arminius, in which if there be anything that has pleased you, it will be very gratifying to me. But what has, I understand, proved displeasing to you, is also, I assure you, displeasing to me. I had written to the effect that your colleague, overwhelmed as he was with affliction towards the end, was altogether (totum), meaning as far as in him lay, inflamed with the desire of the better life in heaven. What evil hand it was that out of my word totus (whole) made solus (sole) I do not know; a mistake so foolish, as it appears to me, that it can admit of no good sense. Whoever he is, I marvel at his audacity and stupidity in being so awkwardly officious in regard to the production of another. And even if any emendation had been required, I ought to have been consulted. Immediately after the publication, I uttered the complaint to the most learned Heinsius, and other friends, that my publishers had betrayed in this place a lack of fidelity, as in many other places they had betrayed a lack of diligence.

'At all events, what I proposed to myself in praising Arminius was this, that to the man to whom when living I could refuse no kind of service, (for I knew him, though only as I knew many others, without being on terms of close intimacy,) I should, now that he is dead, render this tribute, — which I was conscious of being able with all sincerity to do, — to that far-from-ordinary cast of genius, and transparent kind of eloquence which I always admired in him. I added that both in those things in which he defended the truth so strenuously against the Pope, and in those other things in which it was more possible for him to err, he did nothing from a hardened impulse contrary to the dictates of conscience. This was a judgment which charity dictated to me; as also that other, namely, that Arminius, particularly as death drew near, had bent his wishes towards the peace of the Church.

'But as to the points of difference between you and Arminius, and between many good men, with these I am neither sufficiently acquainted, nor, if I were, would I rashly intermeddle. That matter has its own appropriate judges. To us, occupied as we are with other things, it is allowable, as I trust, with the kind favour of God, to continue ignorant in respect to many things, and in respect to many others to withhold our assent. But although I do not build on human authority, this nevertheless I am free to avow, that in those points on which I entertain doubt, it is not easy for me to become wrenched from the opinions of those whom the Church has hitherto acknowledged to have been the pioneers of her restored purity. Many precepts, in particular, of Doctor Francis Junius, whose memory I hold sacred, remain indelibly in my mind. But then, in all such controversies I invariably incline to that side which attributes most to divine grace, and least to ourselves. These dissensions grieve me; but the Church has never been long without them, and never will. It remains that we bear one with another, and that, among the many things which human infirmity renders uncertain, we hold those for certain on which rests the hope of our salvation.

'Meanwhile, Reverend Sir, I pray God that he may direct your labours towards that which I doubt not is your aim — the tranquillity of the Church and the confirmation of sound doctrine.

'One who regards your name with the utmost respect,

'H. Grotius.'

But those same adversaries with whom he had so often, on past occasions, come into collision, treading in the footsteps of Gomarus, traduced him as 'a man, indeed, of somewhat practised intellect, but whom nothing pleased except what recommended itself by some appearance of novelty; so much so, that he appeared to loathe many doctrines received in the churches, even on this very ground, that they had been received.' [Praefat. Synodi. Dordac.].

Among strangers, too, were found some who, misled by a certain blind prejudice, and attributing undue importance to the clamours of sundry zealots, characterised him as 'an enemy of God; a man of crafty intellect; who had done all things dexterously; who, Ham-like, had exposed the nakedness of his fathers; and who, in a detestable manner, through the side of the holiest leaders of the Reformation, had dealt a stab at the very body of the Reformed Church.' John Hoornbeck writes that Arminius was much too confident in his own speculations, and showed himself much too eager to demolish all else.

And more: appropriating the words of Tacitus, he calls him a covenant-breaker who, forswearing the faith which he had pledged both to God and the Church, had begun, first secretly, then openly, both by himself, and by his disciples and abettors, to disturb and subvert the faith of the churches, and the doctrine of Christ; and not the churches only, but civil politics also, in his nefarious attempt; and that he would have succeeded, had not God interposed his aid at that perilous crisis [Vide Arn. Poelenb. Epist. ad C. H. in qua liber 8. summae controversiarum Hoornbeequii, refellitur Amstelod. 1655.

pag. 5.].

On the other hand, as Arminius himself had abundantly refuted these accusations, and many others of the same kind, so at this time also Bertius, Uitenbogaert, Simon Episcopius, Corvinus, Narsius, Courcelles, Poelenburg, and others, undertook the vindication of his blessed memory; and for this reason they began to receive from their adversaries the designation of Arminians.

First of all, let us listen to Arnold Poelenburg, that most worthy champion of the Remonstrants, as he pleads the cause of Arminius against the charges of Hoornbeck. Referring to the passage just cited, 'Behold,' he exclaims, 'with how great a rage of calumniation he (Hoornbeck) burns! For what could he mean by traducing Arminius, of pious memory, after his death, as one "who trusted to his own speculations," when he, too, acknowledged the Sacred Scriptures to be the only rule of his faith, and had greatly the better of his opponents, at once in the number and in the weight of his testimonies? What could be his object in declaring that Arminius "showed himself much too eager to demolish all else," when nothing lay nearer his heart than to get the Church restored to her pristine purity and peace? But on reading those statements in which he brands Arminius, the best of men, as "a covenant-breaker," I was utterly horror-struck, and much at a loss to divine whence a degree of audacity so great and so extraordinary had come to be generated in a man speaking things that were false, and maintaining an unjust cause. For why, is that man to be called a covenant-breaker who defends with all his might the covenant which God has struck with the entire human race? After this, there is no reason why he should not brand almost all the Ancient Fathers as covenant-breakers; for they either knew not, or they opposed, absolute predestination. But I think I can discern to what he refers — namely, to this, that Arminius did not subscribe to the Belgic Confession and Catechism. But it had already been answered, that very many traces of our opinion are to be found in these writings. Besides, Arminius had never so enslaved his faith to any human composition as to imply that such was not, at all times, to be weighed in the balance of Scripture. What? Is Hoornbeck prepared to call Luther, Musculus, and many more, "covenant-breakers," because, when bound by vows to the Papacy, they felt unable with a sound conscience to remain in the Papacy? For as formerly, and still, the Papists, so the Reformed of the day, unhappily defend certain grievous errors of their own, under cover of the Holy Scriptures erroneously understood: although, we own, not altogether after the same fashion. Let that liberty, then, be conceded to Arminius, which has been conceded to numerous others before him. For my part, I maintain, that to a man of high standing, and endowed with distinguished gifts, it is not only allowable, but, by virtue of his office, it is also incumbent upon him, to oppose with all his might prevailing errors which had come to be regarded as necessary truth.' [A. Poelenb. Epist. ut supra pag. 6, 7.].

But not to insist on the testimonies of Remonstrants, in what esteem the name of Arminius, — to many so hateful, — continued to be held by the honourable curators of the Academy, will be apparent from the fact that to his widow, Elizabeth Real, and to her fatherless children, whom they took under their protection, they assigned a handsome annuity; and that very dignified body, the Senatus Academicus, in compliance with their request, at once furnished them with the following testimony to the deceased:—

The Rector Magnific, and Senatus of the Academy of Leyden-in-Holland, to all and sundries, who may read or hear this testimony, greeting:

'Inasmuch as it has seemed good to Almighty God to call that distinguished and reverend man, James Arminius, Doctor of Sacred Theology, and Professor in Ordinary of that Faculty in this our Academy, away from that professorship which, for a series of years in which he thus acted, he exercised with singular assiduity, and with the applause of his hearers, into the celestial country, and to grant him an everlasting release and immunity from those protracted labours which he sustained both in the Church and in the Academy; and seeing that the surviving widow of this same deceased man, of most blessed memory, together with the children which she had by him, has requested, as a debt due to his eminent virtues, that the Senatus would furnish her with a testimonial, — a request which, considering the many distinguished endowments of that man, appears to us to be nought else than just; we willingly contribute the last office which it is in our power to discharge to his very dearly cherished memory. We testify, therefore, that the said James Arminius, D.D., led such a life in this our Academy as to teach Sacred Theology (for we leave controversies to others) both in public and in private, with the utmost assiduity and diligence [It is to be observed that this same formula also occurs in the testimony which the Senatus Academicus gave to Gomarus, when he left for Middelburgh.]. And besides, in the Senatus Academicus, as became an eminently wise and prudent man, he maintained by his judgment, counsel, and authority, that place and dignity which was due at once to himself and to the whole honourable order; and to public matters which fell to be transacted by us in our assembled capacity he was ever ready to postpone those which were personal and private. Whatever he thought conducive to the interests of the Academy, he frankly propounded; whatever he deemed the contrary, to that with the like freedom he declared himself opposed. He did not stain his most sacred profession with any spot or blemish, in manners of life; but, as was incumbent on an upright man, he maintained a demeanour in harmony with his calling and office. As became a diligent teacher, he instructed the youth intrusted to his charge with assiduity and zeal. For these reasons we entreat all and sundries to speak and think of the same James Arminius, D.D., a man of blessed memory, in such a manner as his erudition, his work performed in this our Academy, and his excellence, deserve. Which testimony we have ordered to be certified by the hand of our secretary, and to be further ratified and confirmed by our common seal.

'Compared with the original, and copied in terms of the same order of the Rector Magnific and the Senatus Academicus, by

'Daniel Heinsius.'

To this very honourable testimonial of the Senatus, which is preserved to this day among the archives of the Leyden Academy, it may be well to add some individual testimonies with which several very eminent men, unfettered by the partialities of sect, honoured him both during his life, and after his death.

The truly illustrious Scaliger, though sufficiently chary of praising others, calls him 'a very great man.' Meursius assigns him 'a most penetrating intellect and judgment.' [Vide Scaligerana. Meursii Athenae Bat. pag. 177.]. The very celebrated Drusius classes him among 'the learned and candid men' to whose judgment he readily submitted his writings.

In that epistle to the States-General, in which the distinguished Baud dedicates to their name his elegiac poem on the death of Arminius, he calls him 'his reverend colleague, an excellent man, whom, when alive, he embraced in his sincere affection, and whom, now that he is dead, he continued to esteem as a man abounding in extraordinary endowments of mind and learning'; and in a letter to Uitenbogaert he follows up his praises of the deceased with these words: 'He was never legitimately convicted of, or condemned for, any error. Yea, to his last breath he adorned the post which by the decree of the curators and of our rulers he had obtained, and he died in the possession of rightful office; so that all good men, for the best of reasons, ought to cherish his memory with every feeling of favourable regard. For myself, I am left with a mournful sense of his loss; and nothing did I so eagerly desire as to see that day on which his innocence might be vindicated from rumours so invidiously circulated, and so rashly believed.' [Epist. Eccles. pag.

239.].

The celebrated Anthony Thysius, also, between whom and Arminius, while alive, much intimacy subsisted, was wont, on repeated occasions, to declare respecting him, 'that he had never seen a mail endowed with more or with greater virtues, and chargeable with fewer or more trivial faults.' [Epist.

Eccles. pag. 327.]. Richard Thompson, too, that great luminary of the English Church, making mention of Arminius in a certain letter to Dominic Baud, dated July 27, 1605, thus speaks: 'What you write concerning Arminius I gratefully acknowledge, although the fame of that man is not so imperfectly known among us as you seem to imagine. For even to me he was formerly very well known, before he had yet become a professor among you; and from the time that he did, he began to be well known in this country and many others besides. Hence as often as any scholars visited us from your country, our professors made diligent inquiry respecting Arminius. I am truly glad, therefore, on behalf of your Academy, which contains so great a man.' [Epist.

Eccles. pag. 148.]. To this may be added the testimony of John Buxtorf, professor in the Academy of Basle, who, on being apprised of his death, wrote to Uitenbogaert in these terms: 'The unlooked-for extinction of so truly great a luminary of the far-famed Belgium as James Arminius, fills, as it well may, my mind with grief, both as a common calamity to the Clmrch of Christ, and as a melancholy breaking-off of the first approaches I had made towards the acquaintance of so great a man. For I hoped to see him put in that place in my esteem which was occupied by that illustrious hero, the learned Scaliger, of pious memory, who, — for me, alas, too suddenly, — has also been snatched from the stage of time.' [Epist. Eccles. pag. 244.].

The very erudite Isaac Causabon, unites also in this tribute to Arminius. In a letter of his sent from Paris to Samuel Naeranus, dated July 28, 1610, these words occur: 'That Arminius, now in glory, of whom you make mention, was a great man, I do not doubt; although I have never as yet found any of our pastors who did not regard him as an infamous heretic, — their standard of truth being the opinion of Calvin. For Calvin I am conscious of a profound respect; but still I cannot away with those who rancorously hate all who dissent from him.' [Ib. p. 249]. Nay, M. Martinius himself, who was afterwards present at the Synod of Dort, and was no mean member, — and into whose bosom Arminius, a few weeks before his death, and already sick, had poured his complaints respecting the calumnies that were fabricated against him,—

expressed this thoroughly candid and unsophisticated opinion of the man : 'He seemed to me,' says he, 'to be a man that truly feared God; most erudite, most practised in theological controversies; mighty in the Scriptures; very circumspect, and precise in applying philosophical terms to theological subjects.' [Ib. p. 238.].

At length, that the memorial of so dear a head might never be lost to after ages, his relatives published his portrait, cut in brass, with this inscription:

'Qui nunc per altas aurei caeli domes

Regnat beatus, et suo junctus Deo

Humana celsus speruit, et nescit simul,

Sic Hospes, ora Magnus Arminius tulit.

Caelare mores atque dotes iugeni

Doctumque pectus, quod fuit (sed beu fuit!)

Magnus nequivit artifex: et quid manus,

Efferre cum non lingua, lion stilus queant.'

[These Latin verses may be thus rendered into English: Beyond these orbs that gild the etherial dome,

Joined to his God, his toils and conflicts o'er, The great Arminius, in that blissful home,

Still lives and reigns, though seen on earth no more.

Such, stranger, were the traits which here he wore: But ah! to sketch the beauties of that heart,

Aud learned mind, whose loss we now deplore,

Transcends the able limner's loftiest art.

What neither pen can write, nor tongue can say,

The feebler hand presumes not to pourtray.—TR.]

Among those of his countrymen who stood high in rank and office, he had attached most closely to himself these honourable Senators and Burgomasters, namely, Nicholas Cromhout, Adrian Junius, Sebastian Egberts, Rombout Hogerbeets, and one who of all his defenders and patrons held by no means the last place, William Bardesius, Lord of Warmhusen. This man cherished and evinced a stedfast affection for Arminius; when debilitated under his slow and lingering malady, with the utmost affection he took him to his manor as soon as his disease, and the state of the climate, and intervals of respite would permit; and after the removal of Arminius from this lower stage, he showed the same kindness to his widow and afflicted family, and embodied it in many substantial proofs.

In addition to John Uitenbogaert, so often mentioned in this memoir, — whom he was wont to call his sheet-anchor, as one to whom he might betake himself for counsel and aid, — among the friends who were knit to him in bonds of special intimacy, the following held a principal place, namely, the celebrated John Drusius, Conrad Vorstius, Anthony Thysius, John Halsberg, Peter Bertius, Adrian Borrius, John Arnold Corvinus, and other two whom he loved as a brother and a son: to wit, Rembert and Simon Episcopius, the former a merchant of Amsterdam, of cultivated understanding and exalted piety, the latter the most distinguished of his disciples, and who, at a subsequent period, in consideration of the extraordinary endowments of mind and genius which Divine Providence had heaped upon him, was judged worthy to fill the office of his deceased preceptor.

These are the things which I have judged necessary to be said respecting James Arminius, whose piety and simple virtue never courted any celebrity on the earth, much less that a sect should be called by his name. This, indeed, after all things had become convulsed, actually happened subsequently to his death; the Christian community having suffered a lamentable rent, for which, as matters now stand, — unless God interpose in behalf of his Church, — the long-looked-for day of remedy may not speedily arrive.

APPENDIX.

Brandt has appended to his memoir the two Latin poems by Baud and Grotius, on the death of Arminius, to which he refers, p. 300. Baud's poem is very long, occupying twenty pages of the original, and containing some 600

lines. It is, moreover, in its tone, somewhat equivocal and temporising; and elicited, in consequence, a complaint from the true and magnanimous Uitenbogaert, to which Baud replies in a strain of profoundest respect, both for him and the deceased Arminius, — declaring that of all his old friends they were the two that stood highest in his esteem, and that he had advanced nothing in his poem which could sustain a single sinister inference in regard to Arminius. The truth is, Dominic Baud, like Daniel Heinsius, though conscious of the sincerest friendship and respect for Arminius gave way, after his death, to that violent pressure of the times to which Arminius himself had 'fallen a blessed martyr.' Baud's poem contains many bold and masterly passages, that abound in vigorous thought and lofty imagery. We had translated the larger half of it into English verse, with a view to its insertion in this appendix; but, on second thoughts, we have concluded to let that pass as labour lost. Its great length, to mention no other consideration, would make it out of all proportion.

The poem of Grotius, on the other hand, is of sufficiently moderate limits to make its insertion here consistent with the scope and symmetry of the volume; while the transcendent lustre of his name, and his well-known attachment to the Arminian cause, lend a peculiar interest and charm to his verses on Arminius. For the sake of those, accordingly, for whom this little work is specially intended, we have in this instance, also, — though profoundly sensible of the difficulty and delicacy of the task, — done our best to present the lines of Grotius in faithful English, in the following metrical version.—TR.:—

ELEGIAC POEM OF HUGH GROTIUS, ON THE DEATH OF ARMINIUS.

Deep searcher in the mine of truth profound;

Spirit sublime, with various learning stored;

For keen-edged perspicacious wit renowned;

Arminius, thee we mourn:— O loss deplored!

From this dark world, and from the turbid throng Of dim-eyed mortals, thou hast winged thy flight: And rangest now, with vision pure and strong,

The sunny fields of beatific light.

Whether for truth thou gaind'st some trophies fair, Spurning the yoke on tamer necks that pressed;

Or erred in aught, as man may err, declare

Ye who have right to judge, and skill to test.

Yet well we know what hours by thee were spent

O'er God's own book, enslaved to no man's creed.

And now, of conscience pure, and high intent,

Thou bear'st, by heaven's award, the glorious meed.

There, filled with peace and joy, 'tis thine to know What here thy thoughts explored with toil and pain; Thou seest what shades enwrap all minds below;

What wears the name of knowledge here, how vain.

Yet, proud thereof, aloft we raise our head,

And spurn our fellows, who return the same.

Hence wars polemic, furious, rise and spread;

Hence hate plebeian stirs and feeds the flame.

And sacred Truth, of sacred Peace the friend,

Deigns not her presence there, but flies afar:

Ah, why does lust of strife men's bosom rend?

And will the God of peace be pleased with war?

Whence such untempered zeal, such parties new?

Hath Satan sowed these tares 'neath mask of night?

Must men's dire passions feed on aught they view, And God's own cause afford them scope to fight?

Or does this prying world, that dares to tread

Where even to angels all access is barred,

And snatch forbidden knowledge, serpent-led,

Reap in these sad debates its due reward?

As when at Shinar, in that structure proud,

Men thought to pile a stepway to the sky;

Their thousand tongues dispersed the impious crowd, And all their schemes in babbling strife did die.

Ah ! know we what we do? The little flock

Elected from the world, in Jesus' fold,

Each other rend, in foul and frequent shock,

While Moslems smile, and Jews with joy behold!

Happy the simple, pure, and artless faith,

From faction free, and meretricious dress;

Which sees sin put away by Jesus' death,

And trusts in his atoning righteousness:

Which sees salvation free, — all gifts above;

And doom ordained for those who doom deserve:

Which plies the gentle part of holy love,

Nor seeks to soar, so much as lowly serve.

Nor asks too far if adamantine laws

Fix all events; — How God, all sinless still,

Wills sin? — How not? — How far the Great First Cause Bends by his sovereign nod the human will?

And happy he whom no ambitious ends,

Nor gain, nor empty plaudits turn aside;

But, fired with heavenly zeal, still heavenward tends, And studies God where God himself doth guide.

Threading with cautious steps life's 'wildered maze, Through fatal snares his course he daily winds;

While Freedom, tempered with Love's gentle rays, Secures his concord with dissentient minds.

True piety and justice he maintains, —

Condemned by men, himself condemning none;

Now speaks for Truth, and now for Peace refrains, Still watchful each presumptuous path to shun.

Oft didst thou urge these truths, Arminius dear —

In public oft, as thousands can declare;

In private, too, — yea, when thine end drew near, Thy parting breath still urged these counsels fair.

With life's protracted ills out-worn and spent,

Tired of a world of pertinacious strife,

Though crushed thy meaner part like shattered tent, Thy nobler part, unscathed, aspired to life.

Full spread, it longed to gain those kingdoms bright To which to thousands thou did'st point the way; And now arrived, another star of light,

It gems the temple of eternal day.

There dost thou pray, that to his flock below

God would such light, as here they need impart;

And curb their restless wish aught more to know; And send them teachers after his own heart:—

Would all men's hearts (if not all tongues) unite; And Strife dispel, before Love's ardours driven; That Christ's whole Church, at one, may, in his light, Approve their life to earth, their faith to heaven.

EPITAPH.

Subtle in intellect, and great in speech,

But careful most his life to regulate,

Arminius, dead, thus speaks, thus all would teach, (Of life approved, and matchless in debate):—

'I, as in life, in death this counsel give —

BE LESS DISPOSED TO ARGUE THAN TO LIVE.'

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