Imatges de pàgina
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"such as might contribute, according to the word of God, to "a state of tranquility and peace well befitting the Christian 66 name; and that from these benefits I have excluded the "Papacy, with which no unity of faith, no bond of piety or "of Christian peace can be preserved." *

Having soon completed all his worldly arrangements, he spent his few remaining days in calling upon Christ, in devout thanksgiving, and in meditating upon a better life; during which period he was visited by John Uitenbogardt and Adrian Borrius+more frequently than by any other persons: Both of them were united to him by the strictest bonds of ancient friendship and by their mutual participation of various dangers. Borrius was likewise most assiduous in performing the daily office of prayers for the dying saint. At length, on the Nineteenth Day of October, about noon, after this faithful servant of God had valiantly fulfilled all the duties of his warfare, had finished his course, had fought the good fight, and had kept the faith, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, amidst the earnest prayers of those who were present, he calmly rendered up his spirit unto God the Father his Creator, to the Son his Redeemer, and to the Holy Ghost his Sanctifier, while each of the spectators exclaimed, O my soul, let me die the death of the righteous! In this placid manner Arminius resigned his spirit, tired as it was of the cares of this world, and satiated with toils and afflictions;-but it had begun greatly to long for its liberation, was already favoured with a blessed foretaste of the joys of the saints, and seemed to behold Christ its God and its Redeemer !

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Thus set this sun! Thus died this righteous man, 'of whom the world was not worthy! Thus was lifted up, from us, the father of such a number of prophets! Thus was borne up on high JAMES ARMINIUS, in the chariot of Israel and by the horsemen thereof! And now, discharged from all earthly service, freed from every incumbrance, and no longer incommoded by troubles, he possesses a crown which had been the object of his ardent desires, amidst so many labours, such perseverance of faith, and such holiness of life, as he had manifested; and he is now in the enjoyment of the Heavenly Jerusalem, among an innumerable company of angels, and the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven.” There he beholds 'God the Judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and the * See Appendix Z. + Appendix AɅ.

blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Heb. xii. 22-24.) He waits for that important day on which God will restore the lifeless body that we have just deposited in the earth, fashioned like unto the glorious body of his Son, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Phil. iii, 21.)

But we must be tossed about by these waves as long as it shall be the will of God, until he at length have mercy upon us, and call each of us away in his own order,' from the mire and clay of this world, to the joys of heaven. In the mean time, we will preserve alive, in the congregation of the saints, the blessed memory of JAMES ARMINIUS, by this descriptive eulogy, THERE LIVED A MAN, WHOM IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE, FOR THOSE WHO KNEW HIM, SUFFICIENTLY TO ESTEEM ; THOSE WHO ENTERTAINED NO ESTEEM FOR HIM, ARE SUCH AS NEVER KNEW HIM WELL ENOUGH TO APPRECIATE HIS

MERITS.

What remains, my most excellent, reverend, honourable, noble, and very learned hearers, but that I exhort you to cultivate the lovely peace of the Church, in opposition to the scandalous reports and unjust surmises of the present age? In doing this, can I employ more appropriate words, than these by the Apostle John? Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.' (1 John iv, 7, 8.)

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APPENDIX.

A,Page 16.

THE name of DANIEL HEINSIUS, Professor of History in the University of Leyden, is familiar to all the learned, for his critical labours, but more particularly for the decided part which he took in the religious disputes which arose after the death of Arminius. Heinsius was ambitious; and, though on terms of intimacy with some of the most eminent of the Remonstrants, as soon as he perceived a turn in the tide of their affairs, he changed his course and sought for secular advancement from the prevailing party. In consequence of the zeal which he displayed in his new career, he was appointed secretary to the Lay Commissioners at the Synod of Dort, and played a distinguished part in that memorable assembly.

When Arminius died, many of the most learned men of that age wrote elegiac Latin verses, on the mournful occasion. The following is a copy of those which Heinsius composed, and which he addressed to the Rev. John Uitenbogardt, the most intimate friend of the deceased. It reflects no small disgrace on the memory of Heinsius, that from every printed edition of his works he carefully excluded these charming verses, which are honourable alike to his understanding, to his talents and his feelings. But his prudent reasons for such exclusion, every reader of discernment will easily conjecture.

IN OBITUM

REVERENDI D. IACOBI ARMINII SUMMI

PONTIFICIORUM OPPUGNATORIS.

Ingentem dominum rerum Martisque nepotem
Germanis olim fregit Arminii vigor.

Ausus inaccessam Romano opponere gentem,
Nihil timere doctus et fortis mori.

Horruit et nostro Tiberis se subdidit Albi,
Martisque gentem fœdus invasit timor.
Quintiliæ 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,
Hoc quem sepulchro terra victorem tegit.
Sic fuit in fatis: laudem hanc Germania servas,
Bis Roma nostros non tulisti Arminios.

For the sake of the English reader, these verses may be thus translated; though the tameness of the version will be but too apparent when it is compared with the spirit of the original :

ON THE DEATH OF THAT REVEREND MAN, DR. JAMES ARMINIUS, A CONSUMMATE AND MOST SUCCESSFUL ASSAILANT OF THE PAPISTS.

Lords of the world, his Roman foes,

Of old great HERMAN'S vigour 'brav'd;
He led, the tyrants to oppose,

A people never yet enslav'd;

Ready for death, of nought afraid,

His Germans soon were warriors made.

Affrighted Tyber then began

To yield our Elbe the tribute meet;
Romans by bands in terror ran

And laid their arms at Herman's feet;
But the young troops, the flow'r of Rome,
Preferr'd to this an early tomb.

We have as brave a HERMAN seen,

Who rests beneath this sacred earth;
He, arm'd with truth, for combat keen,
Honour'd the country of his birth,
And all the Papal glory marr'd,
When call'd by heaven to his reward.

Apostate Rome he overcame

By potent words, with dauntless breast;
She knew too well the dreaded name,

And HERMAN's might again confess'd :

This boast to Germany remains,—

TWICE HAVE HER SONS HELD ROME IN CHAINS!

The elder Brandt says of him: "Pursuant to the eleventh article of their instructions, they appointed Daniel Heinsius their secretary, a man who has rendered his name sufficiently notorious, by his skill in the Latin and Greek languages, and especially by his poetry. He was considered to be well qualified for that office, on account of the great facility to which he had attained both in speaking and writing Latin. But it was the opinion of the Remonstrants, that he was much prejudiced against them, because some ministers of their persuasion had frequently reproved him for his dissolute course of life. They affirmed also, that his knowledge of Theological affairs was very defective; that he was exceedingly inconstant in the business of religion, turning first to one party and then to another, at one time praising and at other times condemning the same things, according to the point to which the wind of prosperity happened to veer about; and that he associated VOL. I.

E

himself now to one body of men and then to another, just as he found it to be subservient to his worldly interests."

His officiousness against the cited Remonstrants was very conspicuous during the whole of the Synod; but one of the greatest subjects of complaint against him by the Remonstrants, is, that, at the conclusion of the Synod, when they were required by the Commissioners, as a sine qua non, to subscribe the Canons or "to be deprived of their offices, benefices and public ministrations," Heinsius falsified their answers."Then the Secretary read to each of them separately the answers which he had composed from their several verbal declarations the day before, and required every man to sign his own answer. But they declared, that he had not taken a correct copy of what each of them had said; and among his general interpolations they noticed certain invidious expressions which had been uttered only by one or two of their body when examined separately, such as, 'We are resolved to preach, in defiance of the edicts of the States General,' and Such edicts are inconsistent with the word of God.” ”

"About the time when the Canons of Dort first appeared, the Professor Heinsius published a Dissertation, which he had pronounced in the University, on John xvii, 9; in which he treated on Election and the doctrine of the Five Points connected with it. This small tract he dedicated to their Lordships the States General, but presented copies of it to none but such as were members of that august body, and to a few of his particular friends. He did not, however, allow it to obtain any further publicity, for the whole edition amounted only to fifty impressions. He sent a copy of it to the learned Father PAUL, renowned for his History of the Council of Trent, who, entertaining the opinions of the Dominicans on the matter of Predestination, extolled this performance very highly, and declared, that he discovered, on perusing it, how conversant Heinsius was with Theological topics.

"But one of the most learned of the Remonstrants, who had also perused the book, assures us, that Heinsius did not in that dissertation follow his reason and judgment so much as his passions; he often repeated the same observation, by means of a slight variation in expression; his style was diffuse and obscure; he frequently wandered from his text, and, in all the boldness of poetic licence, wrested the holy scriptures according to his own peculiar humour, as though he was interpreting one of the fables of Ovid; he was also guilty of sundry palpable

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