booksellers. In conclusion they begged, that, for an example and as a proof of a sacred zeal in the cause of God, the treatise of Vorstius on the Deity should, by order of government and by the decree of the Synod, be in a public and solemn manner burnt by fire. And, as a specimen of an infamous burntoffering of this kind, the British read before the Synod an authentic decree, passed on the 21st Sept., 1611, and ratified with the seal of the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, by virtue of which and of the previous judgment of our most Serene King, the before mentioned book was publicly purified in the flames of vengeance. A copy of that Cambridge decree was then entered among the ACTS of the Synod.

"The divines of the Palatinate declared, that they co-incided with the determinations of his most Serene Majesty and of the University of Cambridge, and related the fraudulent character of the recantation which Vorstius had made some years ago at Heidelberg.-The Hessian Divines stated, that the dedication of his treatise on the Deity, which had been inscribed to their most illustrious master the Landgrave, was so far from being pleasing to that pious prince, as to be exceedingly disagreeable to him: and that he had with singular prudence refused to admit Vorstius to a Professor's chair in that University, although he had been highly recommended. (See Page 455)-All the other members, both foreign and provincial, united in considering Vorstius worthy of being deprived of the Professorial dignity. With regard to the offer which he now made, of being a champion prepared to enter the lists against the Socinians, it was answered, [in the words of the Latin Poet,]

Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis
Tempus eget;

"The present times do not require such aid as this, or such defenders ;' because Vorstius, in his heretical career, was himself much suspected of holding the errors of Socinianism. It was therefore thought, that he would not heartily engage in that enterprize: for he had done nothing at all respecting the matter which had been formerly committed to him for execution."

The next day when a certain Synodical decree respecting Vorstius was presented for approbation, "some insertions, omissions and explanations were moved by the British, who represented that certain errors on the subject of justification were ascribed to Vorstius, on which it was not yet sufficiently evident what his opinions were; and that other things were omitted or not condemned with suitable plainness, which yet were most blasphemous and had given very grievous offence to almost all the Catholic Church.-It was then debated at great length, that Vorstius denied the resurrection of the same body, or united with Socinus in completely taking away the satisfaction of Christ; and, in proof of this, some of his private letters were read which he had many years before addressed to Tossanus, and in which he makes an open profession of Socinianism.-But, in opposition to this, the British Divines were of opinion, that he ought to be found guilty out of books acknowledged and published by himself, and not from a private letter, concerning which there was no evidence that it had been written by him, or if there were evidence about any thing, it was, that it had been composed prior to the recautation which he published at Heidelberg. It was not the wish of the Synod to come to any determination about burning the book of Vorstius,but they referred that matter to the Supreme Magistrate.

"In the 152ud Session, held the same afternoon, the decree against Vorstius having undergone some slight alterations was again proposed. The British Divines wished to see inserted in it more of the Divine Attributes which had been attacked by Vorstius: They also wished his sentiments on the satisfaction of Christ and man's justification either to be entirely omitted in the Syuodical Censure, or to be more fully explained to the Synod, that the members might be convinced of their being erroneous. Many long debates arose in the discussion of these and other dogmas that had been promulged by Vorstius. The members at length agreed to the adoption of that form of Censure VOL. I. Кк

by which Vorstius is adjudged to be unworthy of occupying the Theological Chair, on account of his audacity and impiety in undermining the principal foundations of the Christian Faith: and in which the States-General are requested to prohibit the circulation of his Treatise on the Deity and other doctrines which are specified in that decree. Before the close of this session, which was protracted to a late hour in the night, the sentence against Maccovius was read."

Such is the account given by Balcanqual. In a few weeks afterwards, the States of Holland and West Friezland grounded ulterior proceedings upon the Synodical Censure, and discharged Vorstius from his office of Professor, requiring him to depart out of their territories in the space of six weeks, and never to return, upon pain of being punished at pleasure as a disturber of the public peace. In their mercy they allowed him his salary for six months.— This decree against him was confirmed a few weeks afterwards by the States General, who extended the prohibition to all the United Provinces, out of which Vorstius was in consequence banished.

On the Sixth of May, the principal business of the Synod having been terminated, there was a grand procession of the members to the Great Church at Dort, in which were recited from the pulpit the Canons or Articles of the Synod before an immense company of Spectators. Balcanqual's Latin description of it is very amusing: Among other circumstances, he relates, that "after the Preface to the Canons had been read, the President (Bogerman) admonished all the audience to manifest individually, according to custom, the joy which they felt on that day, and their gratitude to the Divine Majesty, by bestowing charitable donations on the poor. These largesses, which were collected by certain Deacons of the Church of Dort who had been appointed to that service, must undoubtedly have been very liberal: For no man could be observed who did not with a glad countenance stretch out his hand to bestow his bounty." After all the Articles had been recited, he adds, "When these had been finished, the subscription of each of the members was read, when every man at the mention of his own name testified his individual consent to the Canons by removing his hat from his head. [See the close of the Paragraph page 472.] The secretary then read the Personal Censure which the Synod passed on the Remoustrants: [See page 435.] But to that document the signature of each of the members was not added, because some of the Foreigners were unwilling to enter into any resolutions concerning the persons of those men, but only concerning their doctrines."

The next day, being the 9th of May, all the foreign Divines took their leave of the inland members, after they had all dined together and been entertained with music and other delights.-On the 10th of May, the States Commissioners waited upon each of the foreign divines at their respective lodgings, wished them a good journey, and presented each of them with a valuable gold medal, illustrative of the labours of the Synod. Beside the handsome daily allowance during their stay at Dort, they received a considerable sum to defray the expences of their journies to and from the Synod. Some of them who returned by the Hague, endeavoured to persuade the persons at whose houses they lodged to accompany them: intimating that they would there behold an uncommon sight, which proved to be the execution of that great man, the Advocate Olden Barneveldt, who was beheaded the fourth day after this formal conclusion of the main business of the Synod. It is reported of Diodati, the Genevan Deputy, that, not long before, he wrote a letter to M. Du Maurier, ambassador of France, in which he said, "The Church will never enjoy any quiet as long as the ring-leader of the Arminians is alive." On another occasion he had the audacity to say, before a large company with whom he was dining, "You must proceed to extremities before religion can be established on a solid foundation.”—After the departure of the foreign Divines from Dort, the inland members held other twenty-six sessions, to finish those matters which had been referred to them, and with respect to which the former acts of the Synod were but the preliminaries. The 13th of May was the day on which

they held their first session, all spectators being excluded, and the business conducted in the Dutch language. That was the very day when the Advocate Olden Barneveldt was beheaded; and Bogerman the President, that day, offered public thanksgiving to God for having delivered his Church from those men who had troubled her! The members then proceeded to devise various forms of subscription to the Calvinism propounded by the Synod in their Canons, for the double purpose of lawfully discharging all Arminians from the miuistry, and of preventing others of that persuasion from entering into it. They likewise enacted several other vexatious measures that had the same bearing. Yet some of their labours were of a description that seemed calculated to benefit their country,-such as their resolutions respecting the better observance of the Sabbath, the regulation of schools and universities, uniform. ity in the solemnization of marriages, &c, &c.

Vorstius, having heard othing of the fate of his previous application to the Synod, addressed, on the 5th of May, another letter to the Bishop of Landaff and the other foreign Divines, from which the following are extracts: thought the attempt of humbly addressing your reverences deserved to be made, for this purpose,―that you will have the goodness not to disdain to perform for me in this affair an act of true charity, which is a service due to God and our neighbours, and that you will take upon you the part of honourable arbitrators between me, who am already overburdened with trouble from other quarters, and the provincial divines, of whom not a few have for a long time been highly exasperated against me, and whose interference in my affair is for this reason justly suspected. Your reverences are aware, that I have offered to the Synod a quiet and friendly discussion, either by word of mouth or by writing. If I can obtain neither of these favours, what will be the judgment of the Christian world and of posterity? For it is not sufficient to judge any man out of books, according to the votes of a majority, in matters that are the subjects of litigation, and especially in those of Theology; because books are both deaf and dumb, and can neither declare themselves beyond the expressions formed by the letters of which they are composed, nor can propose any reply to objections. This is still more unjust when the author of such books renders himself accessible, and offers himself as prepared equally for learning better doctrine than that which he already knows, or for communicating greater truths to those persons to whom they are unknown.-Yet, after all, if the majority of voices shall in this case prevail to form a judgment concerning me from my books alone, it will at least be equitable for your reverences to grant me this favour,―to mitigate and repress by your intercessions the too vehement zeal of others, that no severer sentence may be passed against me, than has yet been passed against Piscator and some others, who have hitherto beeu adversaries to my cause. Some of these men have long ago delivered certain harsh sentiments on the Predestination of God, and others of them on Justification and on similar articles of our faith ;-although my sentiments being purely theoretical, may be manifestly erroneous, (a circumstance concerning them, that was never yet pointed out by your Synod,) and though they may not of themselves contribute any thing to the practice of piety,-yet when the opinions of those men are compared with them, mine will appear but as very slight excrescences or diminutive moles on the skin, in proportion to theirs which seem like deadly wounds or pestiferous ulcers. I submit it also to your reverences as a subject on which you ought seriously to reflect, that it is not possible to discover any thing in those doctrines principally objected against me which has at any period been publicly condemned as heretical by the ancient and purer church of Christ: On the contrary, nothing can be found in them which has not either been propounded by the ancient Church in a similar manner, or at least been tolerated by it as an indifferent matter. This fact is abundantly evident from my Apologetical Reply to the Specimen of Festus Hommius, which Reply I would hope your reverences have already both seen and perused, to omit all mention of other writings of this kind, which were published by me long ago for the same purpose, and in which some expressions

that had perhaps been either too obscurely or too incautiously employed, will be found explained in a mild and candid manner and so as to bear a better signification."

What unaccountable mutations often occur in human friendships! Twelve years had not elapsed since Bogerman addressed a most loving letter to Vorstius as his dear friend, in which he gave a long account of the transactions of the Preparatory Convention which was held at the Hague in 1607, and of which both Bogerman and Arminius were members. The following are extracts from it. "Most famous man, reverend Sir, and my brother in Christ! -Arminius was present at our convention, and, with the exception of him and three others, we were all unanimous in our sentiments. But, because we had him opposed to us, we were forced to exhibit to the States-General our discordant judgments concerning those subjects on which the whole matter hinged. -It was the wish of Arminius, that the judges (that is, the ministers of all the Churches,) should, during the period of this search after truth, be liberated from those subscriptions and obligations by which they had bound themselves to the Catechism and the Confession: This is the course which according to his opinion ought to be pursued.-But it appeared to us a most absurd project. We confessed indeed, that sentence was to be pronounced according to the word of God; but that, since it is unbecoming both in a Christian and in a Minister to be without faith, it is impossible without it to enter into any investigation or to form a right judgment. We consider that to be the true doctrine of faith which those writings [the Catechism and Confession] have delivered from the word of God: Since a believer therefore is never liberated from the word of God, he is never free from the doctrine delivered in it, which we believe to be contained in those writings.—I judged it proper briefly to communicate to you these circumstances, that you might know the situation of our affairs ecclesiastical, and that you may pray to God for the peace and tranquillity of our Churches !" These extracts shew the estimation in which the reverend President of the Synod of Dort held those human formularies of union. In his opinion, they contained the very quintessence of the Gospel, and were the rule by which the doctrines of the scriptures ought to be judged. For many years afterwards, poor Vorstius enjoyed the friendship of Bogerman, Acronius, Erpenius, Goclenius, Rosæus, and others of the Calvinistic brotherhood. In former days, he had also corresponded with Beza, Grynæus, Paræus,and other fathers of that school. But when he accepted of the Leyden professorship, and became the successor of Arminius, the hands of nearly all these men were raised against him; they compassed sea and land to effect his destruction; and they never refrained from their persecution of him, till they had hunted him out of the United Provinces. Whatever might have been the extent and complexion of his errors, he can be viewed by an impartial posterity in no other light than that of a martyr who was sacrificed to the malevolent passions of some persons, and to the despicable vanity of others. The following letter from Balcanqual to Mr. Secretary Nanton will pourtray the ideas which the British Divines entertained concerning the tyrannical act of condemning any man unheard! As Britons who had gradually imbibed a relish for the sweets of liberty, (though the portion of it that they possessed was not of that extensive and well-defined sort which we enjoy,) they seem to have had some indistinct recollection of St. Paul's question to the Centurion, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" The former part of the letter will be explained by extracts from two of Balcanqual's Letters: "I think our President hath need of your Lordship's good counsel for carrying himself in making the Canons: I find every man murmuring already, that he would make them, and doth but only dictate them to the rest." (March 22.) In his next, the observations occur which are quoted in page 481; after which, he again solicits his "Lordship's care and good counsel, (page 485,) and adds: "God's goodness towards his Church, and your Lordship's vigilant constancy in perfecting THIS GOOD COURSE, which you were so careful

to procure, I hope will teach us to overcome all these difficulties." This correspondence will prove, that Sir Dudley Carleton had nearly the supreme direction, behind the scenes, of every thing momentous. In this instance he transmitted his orders to the States Commissioners, who, notwithstanding their evident leaning towards Bogerman, were compelled to thwart his purposes.I have not at hand a copy of this letter to Nanton in English, and am on that account compelled to translate it from the Latin of Hartsoeker. It is dated March 26th, 1619.

"WALTER BALCANQUAL TO MR. SECRETARY NANTON.

"Most illustrious man! The interruption in the series of the Synodical sessions has been the reason why I have not lately addressed any letters to you. From the time when I last wrote, the following is an account of the manner in which we have passed our time: An end was at length made of publicly reading the judgments of the different colleges on the Five Points. Thanks be to God, there was in them a greater harmony and agreement, than it seemed possible to expect in such a vast number of learned men, not one of whom knew the sentiments of others. The only difference of opinion occurred in the Second Article. The President, who is not accustomed to ask advice of the Synod, wished to frame the Canons himself in virtue of his office, and to dictate them to us. That plan seemed to us who had been deputed by his majesty, to detract greatly from the dignity of the Synod. Having therefore consulted with certain persons who approved of our advice, we considered it would be advantageous for some persons to be deputed by the Synod as associ⚫ ates to the President, so that whatever was transacted might be done by public authority. These measures greatly enraged the President, on whose side all the Provincial divines, some of the Foreigners, and particularly those of the Palatinate ranged themselves. Yet a public session was convoked on this account, when the President of the States Commissioners delivered a speech and required, that some persons should be deputed by the Synod, as associates to the President and his Assessors, to take an equal share in the formation of the Canons. When the votes on this proposition were collected, the greater part of the members declared, that this mode of proceeding was disagreeable to them, and that they conceded much to the authority of the President.Schultetus, having expressed by many reasons his approbation of the acts of the President, rejected the advice which had been suggested by some individuals, but he charged no one by name as its author. Sibrandus Lubbertus also, when delivering his sentiments, broke out, like a mad-man, into furious invectives against those who had been the authors of this invention; and intimated, that it was not the province of the foreign divines to arrogate to themselves the right of determining about those things which would conduce to the welfare of these [the Dutch] churches; and that those members who had joined themselves to the foreigners, deserved to receive the severe stigma of an ecclesiastical censure. By this expression he wished to point out the South Holland members, to whom as well as to us the actions of the President were exceedingly displeasing. The fury of Sibrandus proceeded at last to such a length, that he was requested by both the Civil and the Ecclesiastical President, either to be silent or to speak those things which would not tend to disturb the peace of the Synod.

"Yet, because such was the pleasure of the States Commissioners, the whole Synod chose, as associates to the President and his Assessors, three of the foreign divines, (the Bishop of Landaff, Schultetus, and Diodati,) and three provincial divines, (Polyander, Walæus, and Triglandius,) who were diligently to occupy themselves in composing the Canons on each of the Five Points or Articles, and to transmit them (when composed,) to each of the colleges, [or societies of divines belonging to each province or nation,] that if they expressed a desire to have any thing in them added, withdrawn, or changed, they might make those alterations; till at length, after having been