generality of professors so weak, that the greater part of them are not not able to take it up, though Truth be tied fast to it, and the burden of it hereby made much more easy and light. Yet, if many of those who occupy the places of the learned, were not more contradictious than their opinions, or, at least, than many of their sayings, the cross we speak of would soon be abolished, and the offence of the innocent doctrine, disguised with the vizard of Arminianism put upon the face of it, would presently cease. And the certain truth is, that the unhappy dividing character-between those who, measuring themselves by themselves, call themselves orthodox, and those whom, because they cannot and do not measure themselves by their measure, they vote Arminian,-doth stand in this, that the latter [the Arminians are more uniform, steady, and coherent with themselves in their notions and doctrines; whereas the former [the Calvinists] are desultory, and themselves as it were possessed of a spirit of Amphibology, which sometimes taketh and casteth them into the fire of Calvinism, and other while into the waters of Arminianism so called. And this declaring of themselves, toties quoties and from time to time, for the Contra-remonstrant tenets, is their expiatory sacrifice, to cleanse them from the guilt of being thought Arminian, notwithstanding their never so palpable and clear asserting the Remonstrant principles at other times. Yea, let the minister commit the foul crime of Arminianism never so openly in one part of his sermon, and but do penance in a fair contradiction in another part of it, hereby he stands rectus in curia; ORTHODOXISM and SOUNDNESS IN THE FAITH are

imputed unto him. Whereas they who shall, in their doctrine, deliver the express matter and substance of what was taught by the other, yea, though they should deliver it in the self-same words and expressions, yet, unless they shall ever and anon be pulling down with their left hand what in this kind they build up with their right, they shall be debtors, and be compelled to bear the cross of Christ, under the name and notion of Arminius. The necessity and power of those tenets or doctrines, nick-named Arminian, is so great for the accommodating and promoting the affairs of Christianity, that even those persons themselves who get a good part of their subsistence in the world by decrying them, and declaiming against them, yet cannot make earnings of their profession, are not able to carry on their work of preaching, with any tolerable satisfaction to those that hear them, without employing and asserting them very frequently. Yea, the truth is, that the grounds and principles of the Remonstrant Faith, (for so we have been and are unhappily constrained to distinguish them,) are, as it were, some of the choicest and most useful implements or tools, with which they work upon their art whereby they get their living.-Banner of Justification.

HUGO GROTIUS.-1609.

ON THE DEATH OF ARMINIUS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN BY MR. JABEZ HUGHES,

BROTHER TO

THE CELEBRATED JOHN HUGHES, ONE OF THE WRITERS IN THE

SPECTATOR.

THOU great researcher into truth profound,
A soul sublime, with erudition crown'd,

Distinguish'd pattern of a piercing mind,
ARMINIUS, from an age perplex'd and blind
Serenely thou art call'd, with happy flight,
To the calm regions of celestial light.

Pure were thy views; and whether thou hast serv'd Truth's glorious cause and in no notion swerv'd,Or, by the lot attending human kind,

Which dimly sees with faculties confin'd

In any part, unheeded error spread

Her obvious snare, and thy pursuit misled ;—

(A curious question, and for them to show

Who have both right to judge, and skill to know :) Yet wast thou seen, in this unhallow'd age,

A strict peruser of the sacred page;

Nor didst thou in the words of men confide,
Relying rashly on a dubious guide:

For which th' applauses of a conscience clear,

Obedient still, still humble and sincere,

At heaven's impartial bar thou dost with rapture hear.
There from the sorrows of this life releas'd,

Of perfect ease, and perfect joy possess'd,
The science thou so long pursu'dst below,
Thou hast obtain'd, and now dost truly know.
From that irradiance of untroubled day,
Thou seest what mists obscure our darken'd way;
How vain the thing which knowledge here we name,
An empty vapour, and an idle dream.

Yet puff'd with this, we others proudly spurn,
And are again insulted in our turn.

Hence wars of sour disputing doctors rise,
The people's rage, and endless enmities.
While holy truth, of holy peace the friend,
Escapes unseen, as fiercely they contend.
From whence this lust of quarrel and debate,
This zeal of parties, and pernicious hate?
Has our dear Lord's infernal foe, conceal'd,
Sown this bad seed, and scatter'd o'er his field?
Or does the hasty wrath of mortal man,

And wit deprav'd, th' untemper'd strife maintain ?
And to vile ends the cause of God, profane?
Or while the world, inquisitive to know,
All secrets scans, and things forbid below,
Is this the righteous punishment assign'd,
T'abash the boldness of the curious mind?
As when of old the madding people strove,
From their proud tow'r to scale ev'n heav'n above,
A thousand erring tongues their speech embroil'd,
And with wild jargon the vain counsel foil'd.

Ah! what do we attempt! the little stock
Selected from the world, the purchas'd flock
Invades itself, and rends with mutual spite,

While Turks rejoice, and Jews applaud the sight.
Bless'd the religion, which from factious heat
Chastely preserv'd, and arts of human wit,
Shines in its own simplicity complete!

Which pardon, by our Saviour's death procur'd,
Expects with steadfast faith, and hope assur'd;
Salvation as the gift of heav'n receives,
And punishments ordain'd for sins believes.
Of gentle love the kind indulgence tries,
Content to be with moderation wise;
Which never will in rash inquiries strive,
Whether events by a fix'd fate arrive;
How, void of evil, by establish'd laws,

The Sov'reign Ruler, as the Sov'reign Cause,

Decrees and disallows committed ill,

And, by a pow'rful nod, conducts the human will.

And bless'd the man! who from ambition free,

Designs not gain, nor earthly vanity;

Nor meanly courts the flatteries of praise,
But does to heav'n his glad devotion raise :
To know the Deity his study bends,
And in the flames of angels' zeal ascends.
Who safely guided by th' unerring clue
Of sacred writ, its precepts does pursue;
And thro' the maze of various life, with care
Directs his way, and 'scapes the ready snare;
With charity his freedom tempers well,
And can in peace with diff'ring parties dwell:
Pious and just, who does contention shun,
Of others damn'd, himself condemning none;
Who never will with confidence presume,

But now disputes for truth, and now for peace is dumb.
These lessons often, nor without success,

Thou didst in public, and in private press;
These with redoubled energy commend,
When nearer now approaching to thy end;
Worn with the labours of exerted life,
And nauseating an age involv'd in strife,
Full of itself, beyond instruction wise,
Ungrateful, and delighting to despise ;
Broke in thy worse, but in thy nobler part
Firm and entire, thou didst with ardent heart,
(So did thy soul the rapt'rous prospect fire!)
To that blest kingdom earnestly aspire,

To which, while heav'n prolong'd thy useful stay,
Thou hadst to thousands pointed out the way.

There now a star, with rays eternal grac'd,
Within the temple of thy Father plac'd,
In pray'r to God, thou humbly dost unite,
To shed upon his fold sufficient light,
And grant they may with that rest satisfi'd;
Teachers to give them, pure from worldly pride,
To propagate his gospel, not an art,

And union send of tongues, at least of heart:
Of controversies blind to chase the night,

With his own lustre, prevalently bright;

That the whole church of Christ, made one in love,
May persevere, and, aided from above,

Their Life to men, their Faith to Heav'n approve.

PETER HEYLIN, D. D.-1666.

}

JUNIUS, a very moderate and learned man, and one of the Profes sors of Divinity in the Schools of Leyden, departed out of this life in the same year also; into whose place the Overseers, (or "Curators, as they call them,) of that University, made choice of JACOB VAN HARMINE, a man of EQUAL LEARNING and NO LESS PIETY. Towards which, the Testimonial-letters sent from Amsterdam, where he had for fifteen years before, been Pastor, did not help a little; in which he stands commended for a man of an unblameable life, sound doc trine, and fair behaviour, as by their letters may appear, exemplified in an Oration which was made at his funeral.

By which ATTRACTIVES he prevailed as much amongst the student of Leyden, as he had done amongst the merchants at Amsterdam For during the short time of his sitting in the chair of Leyden, h drew unto him a great part of that University; who by the PIETY of the man, his POWERFUL ARGUMENTS, his EXTREME DILIGENCE in that place, and the CLEAR LIGHT OF REASON Which appeared in al his discourses, became so wedded at the last unto his opinions, tha no time or trouble could divorce them from Harmine.-Aeri. Redi.

THE REV. THOMAS JACKSON. -1822.

The cultivation of this ingenuous temper prepared Mr. Goodwin's mind for important changes in his religious sentiments; and ultimately led him, to renounce the bold and daring school of Calvinian theology, and avow himself a convert to the mild and moderate system of the amiable, pacific and learned Arminius.

When therefore it had become the full conviction of his mind, that the Calvinian doctrine of election and reprobation was not only destitute of scriptural authority, but, when received as a principle of action and applied to practical purposes, was unfriendly in its influence upon personal religion; he did not hesitate to renounce it, and to maintain with Arminius, That whatever partiality the blessed God may display in the gratuitous distribution of talents amongst men, and in the bestowment of religious advantages, during their probationship in this world; his Decrees, according to which their Eternal States will be appointed, though absolute and unchangeable in themselves, are respective of character, and therefore conditional in their application to individuals. According to his apprehension, God has immutably decreed to elect or choose to eternal life all that believe in Jesus Christ, and to reprobate or abandon to endless misery all that neglect or refuse to believe in him: Graciously affording them, at the same time, every requisite assistance for the acquisition and continued exercise of that faith upon which their everlasting happiness is suspended.-Life of John Goodwin.

THE REV. PHILIP LIMBORCH.—1715.

Arminius was a pious and godly man, prudent, candid, mild and placid, and most studious to preserve the peace of the Church. But he fell on evil times, and he had to do with Gomarus, a person of an angry and very ungovernable spirit.-But, lest any one should charge me with having written this through some sort of undue feelng, I will subjoin the judgment formed concerning both Arminius and Gomarus by those persons who will give the least cause of suspicion [of partiality] to such as hold sentiments contrary to the Remonstrants. [After quoting Hornbeck, Martinius, and Balcanqual, he adds,] The author of The Life of Anthony Walaus," which is extant in Vita Selectorum Aliquot Virorum, though he generally abounds in intemperate invectives against the Remonstrants, gives the following character of Arminius: He was a man of a subtle genius, and learning, and irreproachable in his manners. But he describes Gomarus in a manner vastly different: Francis Gomarus was a person of extensive erudition, fervid in his zeal and vehement. He then adds: Gomarus granted too much indulgence to his passions. He was not rabbed or malignant, but irascible and destitute of self-possession any sudden emergency."-Relatio Historica de Orig. et Prog. Cont. MATTHIAS MARTINIUS, Professor of Bremen, and afterwards a famous Member of the Synod of Dort.-1609.

The death of ARMINIUS is confirmed. He appeared to me to be a a who truly feared God, of the DEEPEST ERUDITION, uncommonly well red in theological controversies, and POWERFUL IN THE SCRIPTURES. He also exercised extreme caution and accuracy in accommodating e terms of philosophy to theological subjects. I have not yet en able to discover his errors, (if he had any,) with their number their magnitude: God knows the state of that matter.-Ep. Ec.

J. L. MOSHEIM, D.D.-1726.

The Arminians derive their name and their origin from James ARMINIUS, or Harmensen, who was first Pastor at Amsterdam, and afterwards Professor of Divinity at Leyden, and who attracted the esteem and applause of his very ENEMIES, by his acknowledged CANDOUR, PENETRATION, and PIETY.-Arminius, though he had imbibed in his tender years the doctrines of Geneva, afterwards embraced the principles and communion of those whose religious system extends the love of the SUPREME BEING, and the merits of JESUS CHRIST

to ALL MANKIND.

As time and deep meditation had only served to confirm him in these principles, he thought himself obliged, by the dictates both of candour and conscience, to profess them publicly, when he had obtained the chair of divinity in the University of Leyden, and to oppose the doctrine and sentiments of Calvin on these heads, which had been followed by the greatest part of the Dutch clergy. Two considerations encouraged him in a particular manner, to venture upon this open declaration of his sentiments; for he was persuaded, on the one hand, that there were many persons, beside himself, and, among these, some of the first rank and dignity,* that were highly

* For my part, when 1 reflect on the disputes which have produced such a lamentable division in Holland, I can hardly comprehend how men of genius could persuade themselves, that the dogmas of St. Augustine on Predestination and Grace are essential to the Reformation of Christianity: For there were many boly men, in the purest ages of the Church, who thought directly the reverse of that Father. Cannot we renounce the monstrous and ridiculous doctrine of Transubstantiation, the Religious Worship of Saints and Images, the Fable of Purgatory, the Indulgences, the false Traditions of the Church of Rome, and the Tyranny of the Pope, without believing in Absolute Predestination, and Irresistible Grace? What was thought of the hypothesis of the Bishop of Hippo, by all those respectable individuals who, struck with the absurdity and falsehood of the doctrines I have just enumerated, embraced the Reformation in the last century? Did they give themselves the trouble of examining whether it was true or false? These difficult and abstract questions occupied the sole attention of the divines, who took it into their heads to form a complete system of Divinity; and among them who chose that employment, there were many who having more carefully examined the Holy Scripture, and Ecclesiastical Antiquity, preferred the moderate sentiments of the ancient Greek Fathers. Even Calvin himself was not persuaded, that his own notions respecting Predestination and Grace were essential to Religion: For he took the trouble of translating into French the Common Places of Melanchthon, who thought very differently from him on those controverted subjects, -and in the preface which he prefixed to that work, he bestows on the author all imaginable praise. Could he conscientiously have acted thus, if he had been persuaded that the sentiments of Melanchthon sapped the foundations of the Reformation? Many eminent Reformed Divines have openly maintained, that the doctrines of Universal Grace, of the Power to resist its operation, and of Conditional Predestination, are in the number of those Articles which every one may believe without renouncing the principles of Religion.

Some learned Hollanders had boldly defended this doctrine, before ARMINIUS became a minister at Amsterdam, and a Professor at Leyden, and likewise before Gomarus had risen up against him. Their writings are still extant; although it is true, that certain ministers who were too hasty, exerted themselves to bring those authors and their productions into disrepute : But the States of Holland uniformly checked this impetuous zeal. [See p. p. 537-541.] The Professors of Leyden were allowed a perfect liberty of teaching conformably to the sentiments of Melanchthon and when Arminius was called to that University, his opinions were generally known: For he had declared them in the Church of Amsterdam, from [the consistory of] which he received very honourable testimonials. Gomarus, and many others of the same opinion, having entered into conversation with Arminius, made no scruple of acknowledging immediately that the difference of sentiments which existed between them, did not at all concern the foundations of the Reformation. True it is, that