be the interpretation which on many occasions is given to silence, it is an easy matter thus to construe it respecting any doctrine

I am also much refreshed and enlivened by the much too favourable judgment which is formed concerning me and my labours, by the most distinguished individuals in our country. I know, that a distinction must be made in religion between one truth and another: If my enemies at Amsterdam, and in other places, would bestow the like reflection on this difference, I should no longer be subject to suspicion and assailed by calumny."

In an extract immediately succeeding that which is quoted in page 547, Arminius says: “Do you wish to hear ANOTHER of their immoveable truths ? It is this, those who are born again can do no more good than they already do.'-Behold here a THIRD! As it was not decreed by God to save man by the law before the fall, neither was it so decreed after the fall.' Though these are great enormities, yet if he [Plancius] who is the principal man among you, had any intimation given to him, that I was preparing to attack these sayings, he would instantly undertake to defend them in public. I could easily produce more quotations of this kind, which were never heard in the Christian Church till within these last few years. For it is notorious, that certain dogmas of the Predestinarians which answer to these, were instantly rejected by the [ancient] Church."

At the commencement of the letter which is quoted in pages 517 and 534, our author says: "The conduct of men towards me, especially among your citizens, is of such a nature as to make them think, that they may invent falsehoods, detractions, and slanders against me, and all the while be committing no offence. If Prince Maurice had drunk a cup of poison, they would not be afraid of suspecting me as the author and adviser of such a criminal action. 1 durst not thus rashly attempt to criminate even the devil himself. A heretic let me be [accounted] ; yet I am a man, whom God has formed after his own image, and for whom Christ has shed his blood; I have also devoted myself to the cause of his truth, I am its liege and well-approved servant, and by the aid of Christ I hope to be its fearless and undaunted defender unto death-how fretful and outrageous soever satan, and every antichristian thing in the world, may make themselves! But it is a most impious practice [on the part of my enemies], to transfer to my account those crimes of which they are themselves notoriously guilty. Whatever degree of dissension may exist in our churches, from them its origin is derived, as well as its circulation. Let them be silent, and cease from their clamorous harangues before the people in public, and from their secret whispers and private slanders, and the matter is instantly adjusted.—In my public theses against the Roman Pontiff, I have discussed such topjes as ought to vindicate me from this calumny, [of attachment to Popery,] and if they are not able to set me completely free from all suspicion, I know not what I can do further to exonerate myself. I am acquainted with two remedies against calumny, and I employ both of them,-INNOCENCE and PATIENCE! May the Lord be pleased to bestow the latter upon me, since he has hitherto granted me the enjoyment of the former. I boldly declare, that I fear no tribunal whatever, not even one of the greatest severity." Then follow the quotations inserted in pages 517 and 534. At the close of the letter he says: "Besides, there is, I understand, a report in circulation at Amsterdam, that when the Prince of Orange was lately at Leyden, he entered into a religious conference with me, and stopped my mouth. And yet in your city may be found persons, among whom eveu this wonderful story obtains credence! To believe it cannot possibly be any thing less than a most palpable token either of ignorance or malice. But those who account me a heretic, must have formed great hopes: For if the Prince of Orange could thus easily confound me, what superior effects will not those persous produce who persuade themselves, (and with great justice,) that they undoubtedly have senses better exercised in the scriptures, than are those of his Highness?"

that is aspersed as a heresy, "under which imputation," it is said in a vaunting tone, "St. Jerome would have no man to remain patient."

In a subsequent letter, dated Dec. 10th 1608, he writes thus: "The matters which I discuss and controvert are of such a kind, as may be separated from the edifice of our Reformation; and though they have been inserted [into the noble building] by certain individuals, yet they may be removed without the least injury. I think I could easily demonstrate with what facility and safety. this might be effected, provided those who are of a different opinion would give me their attention. I am attempting to remove nothing, except in a legitimate munner, by the common consent of all the brethren: For this reason, therefore, I am urgent for the convening of a Synod, and the appointment of a Conference. Of your personal good-will I entertain no doubt; but I wish your colleagues to reflect only upon this one thing-that it is possible both FOR ME TO SPEAK THE TRUTH, and FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO UTTER FALSEHOODS! If the concession of this fact could be obtained from them, they would, while lending one ear to the charges of my enemies, listen with the other to my statement. I shall with difficulty be induced to prepare writings [on this subject] for publication, though there are some among my adversaries who think such a measure is in my contemplation: That is, they are desirous for me to commit myself. But they are not aware, that it is in my power at once to refute slanders and not commit myself." This extract contains another strong proof of the liberality of our author's views. Though Arminianism was then understood to have the chief men in the country for its patrons, yet so far was Arminius or his friends from wishing to employ that high patronage to any base or low-born purpose, that he would have nothing altered in the unsettled formularies of the Church, "except in a legitimate manner, by the COMMON CONSENT OF ALL THE BRETHREN!" It cannot too frequently be repeated, that this trait is eminently characteristic not only of our author's disposition but likewise of his system. And what a contrast does it present to the plots and contrivances of the Calvinistic party, when their friends had fraudulently, and by a wound on the constitution, gained the supremacy!

Concerning the circumstance of "committing himself," to which allusion is made at the close of the letter, consult the preceding DECLARATION, pages 543-548.

The letters from which these extracts are given, were all addressed confidentially to one individual; and though in all such communications, great allowances must be made for the warmth of private feeling while thus thinking aloud to a friend, yet there is no necessity for it in the case of our author. He never maligned his enemies even in Latin, or bestowed such foul epithets as those which poor Castellio received in French from the Father of rigid Predestinarianism, such as "a blasphemous slanderer, a malignant, barking dog, full of ignorance and bestiality," &c. The biographer of Arminius, therefore, is not called to deliver in favour of his author any ungracious apology like the following, which is prefixed by Mr. John Allen to the last edition of CALVIN'S Institutes, professedly a work of piety!!- Almost all the writers of that age, writing chiefly in a dead language, were accustomed to speak of their adversa'ries in terms which the polished manners of the modern times have discarded, 6 and which would now be deemed illiberal and scurrilous. Where these cases occur, the translator has not thought himself bound to a literal rendering of every word, or at liberty to refine them entirely away, but has adopted such expressions as he apprehends will give a faithful representation of the spirit of the author to modern readers.' What an unhappy disposition must Calvin have possessed, to require such a clumsy excuse as this! For how is it possible to form a correct estimate of the spirit of an author unless we have his exact epithets ?

The poets are not the only "irritable tribe of human beings;" every literary man, and Divines among the rest, will occasionally evince a portion of VOL. I. Xx

In this reply I will use candour and conscience. Whatever I know to be true, I will confess and defend: On whatever subjects I may feel any hesitation, I will not conceal my ignorance: And whatever my mind dictates to be false, I will deny and refute.-May the God of truth and my hand by his Holy Spirit! Amen.

and

ARTICLES I & II.

peace

direct my

mind

I. Faith, that is, justifying faith is not peculiar to the elect. II. It is possible for believers finally to decline and fall away from faith and salvation.

ANSWER.

The connection between these two articles is so intimate, that when the first of them is granted the second is necessarily inferred; and, in return, when the latter is granted the former is to be inferred, according to the intention of those persons who framed these articles. For if faith be not peculiar to the elect," and if perseverance in faith and salvation belong to the elect alone, it follows, that believers not only can, but that some of them actually do," fall away from faith and salvation:" And, on the contrary, if it be "possible for believers finally to fall away from faith and salvation," it follows that "faith is not this sensitiveness, when the ennobling or pious designs which they have cherished and promoted are attempted to be destroyed by malevolence. Our author had much to endure on this account, and had laboured under an infirm state of health for two years preceding; yet, with all these and other circumstances, which might be alleged as pretexts for indulging in unhallowed feelings, he on no occasion betrayed any other disposition than that which befitted a man who feared God and wrought righteousness. The warmest expression that ever escaped from his lips or his pen, is recorded in this note : He does not call down the curses of heaven upon the heads of his adversaries, or pray for their confusion,-but says, "I durst not thus rashly criminate even the devil himself!" Yet this is in reality a phrase that breathes much Christian forbearance, and does not amount to the sentiment uttered by Michael the Archangel, who, "when contending with the devil, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The LORD rebuke thee!" The meekness and piety of Arminius would sooner have prayed, in behalf of an adversary, "The Lord forgive thee!" I have often admired an ingenious and edifying turn which Mr. John Goodwin gave to the Archangel's form of malediction when one of his enemies had written it as his hearty prayer :" The good old man replies, "1 shall join issue with you in the words of your prayer against me, and pray, The Lord rebuke me,-only with David's " addition,-not in anger!" (Psalm vi, 1.) What a difference is perceptible between this dignified and Christian feeling of forgiveness, and that diabolical display of violence and asperity which disgusts us in several of Calvin's productions! The subjoined brief character which Castellio has given of one of them, the poison of which was directed personally against him, is not inapplicable to some others: "But, concerning your Latin Pamphlet, what necessity is there to employ many words? Its title is, THE CALUMNITS OF A KNAVE. Its conclusion is, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan! And its intermediate contents are exactly of the same complexion."

peculiar to the elect," they being the individuals concerning whom the framers of these articles assert, that it is impossible for them not to be saved. The reason of the consequence, is, because the words FAITH and BELIEVERS, according to this hypothesis, have a wider signification than the words ELECTION and THE ELECT: The former comprehend some persons that are not elect, that is, "some who finally fall away from faith and salvation." No necessity therefore existed for composing both these articles; it was quite sufficient to have proposed one: And if the authors of them had sought for such amplification, as had no real existence, but consisted of mere words, it was possible to deduce the Second from the First in the form of a consectary. Thus it is evident, that the multitude of the articles, was the great object to be attempted, for the purpose of making it appear as if those persons ERRED IN VERY MANY POINTS, whom the too sedulous curiosity of the brethren is desirous, without cause, of rendering suspected of heresy.

I. But, to treat of each article singly, I declare, respecting THE FIRST, that I never said either in public or in private, “Faith is not peculiar to the Elect." This article therefore is not attributed to its proper author; and thus is committed a historical error.

I add, Even if I had made such a declaration as this, a defence of it would have been ready. For I omit the scriptures, from which a more prolix discussion of this subject might be formed; and since the Christian Fathers have with great semblance of truth defended their sentiments from that Divine source, I might employ the Consent of those Fathers as a shield to ward off from myself the charge of NOVELTY; and the Harmony of Confessions, which are severally the composition of those Churches that have seceded from Popery and that come under the denomination of " Protestants" and "the Reformed," I might adopt for a polished breast-plate, to intercept or turn aside the dart of HERESY which is hurled against me. Neither should I be much afraid of this subject being placed for adjudication in the balances of the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.

1. Let St. Augustine, Prosper, and the author of the Book entitled, The Vocation of the Gentiles, be brought forward to bear testimony respecting "the Consent of the Fathers."

All the editions of our author's works, except that printed at Frankfort in 1635, have the word Partibus, instead of Patribus, in this passage, to the manifest injury of the meaning.

(1.) AUGUSTINE says, "It is wonderful, and indeed most wonderful, that God does not bestow perseverance on certain of his sons, whom He has regenerated in Christ, and to whom he has given faith, hope and love; while he pardons such great acts of wickedness in sons that are alienated from him, and, by imparting his grace, makes them his children." (De Corrept. et Gratiâ, cap. 8.)

(2.) PROSPER says, "It is a lamentable circumstance which is proved by many examples, that some of those persons who were regenerated in Christ Jesus, have relinquished the faith, and, ceasing to preserve their former sanctity of manners, have apostatized from God, and their ungodly course has been terminated under his displeasure and aversion." (Ad Capita Gal. resp. 7.)

"God

(3.) The Author of The Vocation of the Gentiles says, bestows the power of willing to obey him, in such a manner as not to take away, even from those who will persevere, that mutability by which it is possible for them to be unwilling [to obey God]. If this were not the case, none of the believers would have departed from the faith." (Lib. ii, c. 9.)

2. The HARMONY OF CONFESSIONS might in the following manner contribute to my defence: This dogma states, that "faith is the peculiar property of the elect," and that "it is impossible for believers finally to decline from faith and salvation:"-Now, if this be a dogma necessary to salvation, then that Confession which does not contain it, or which asserts some thing contradictory to it, cannot be considered as harmonizing with the rest on the subject of religion. For wherever there is harmony, it is proper that there should be neither defect nor contradiction in things pertaining to salvation. But the Augustan [or Lutheran] Confession says, that "it condemns the Anabaptists, who deny that those persons who have once been justified can again lose the Holy Spirit." Besides, Philip Melancthon with his followers, and the greater portion of the Lutheran Churches, are of opinion, that "faith is bestowed even on the non-elect." Yet we are not afraid of acknowledging these Lutherans for brethren.

3. THE BELGIC CONFESSION does not contain this dogma [that "faith is peculiar to the elect"]; and without controversy it cannot be deduced from OUR CATECHISM. For when it is said, in the article on the Church, "I believe that I shall perpetually remain a member of the Church ;" and, in the first question, "God keeps and preserves me in such a manner, as