Doctor JAMES ARMINIUS, not only do all the difficulties which I have enumerated, but several others present themselves as most formidable obstacles, and have an oppressive effect on my spirits. I am overpowered with grief at the recent removal of my dear friend, and distressed when I consider the mournfulsituation of his sorrowing family,-his widow overwhelmed with affliction, and his nine children now orphans and bereaved of a father; the lamentations uttered by the members of this University, powerfully affect my feelings; and the bare recollection, that our Republic and the Church are now deprived of such a great man, discomposes my mind and overcomes all my firmness. But it may readily be supposed, that all these circumstances, when combined with the recent wound which has not had time to heal, are sufficiently powerful to expel from the understanding of any man, however well cultivated, almost every thing which he had intended to say, and to produce an utter destitution of judgment in a person possessed of the greatest discretion. It must likewise be remembered, that Arminius, as long as he lived, expressed his entire disapprobation of all such funereal pomp as this, the external apparatus and circumstances of sorrow for the illustrious dead. For he was aware, that, however well conducted, and worthy of those whose excellencies they were designed to celebrate, these solemn observances in former ages became the first steps in the adoration of saints; and he thought them not at all suitable examples for us to follow, since we have witnessed the dangerous consequences which flow from the celebration of such solemnities. But the greatest perils which we have to apprehend, are not from this quarter; for (alas!) we have arrived at that period when it appears to be an object of greater anxiety to deliberate concerning the establishment of religion than the banishment of superstition. Since such is the present aspect of our affairs, and as it is a duty which concerns every one to bring forth to open view eminent examples of virtue, and to display them as spectacles on which all the world may look, according to custom on similar occasions, at the request of my friends, and by desire of the Senate, I have undertaken. a province, which I could not possibly refuse without a violation of Christian charity, and an infraction of that friendly compact into which I entered with Arminius at an early period of my life, and the terms of which I have not ceased to fulfil to this day, with the greatest sincerity. Having offered these preliminary remarks, and described my situation and feelings, I hope that there is no individual, in this assembly of eloquent and accomplished persons, who will censure me for this attempt to fulfil my duty; although, I am persuaded, there is not one of those who now hear me that would not discharge such an office to better purpose, and in a much more respectable and perspicuous manner, than I can hope to do. In the mean time, I beg and intreat you, my most honourable, reverend, noble, respected, and learned auditors, to allow those particulars which I shall relate, to obtain credence from you, and to be treated as authentic. We have just committed, to the bosom of the earth, the body of that revered man, JAMES ARMINIUS,* as a real temple of the Holy Spirit, but shaken, worn down, and broken in pieces, by labours, watchings, contests, diseases, and afflic tions. To the dust we have committed his remains, in certain hope of a blessed resurrection,-which, while he lived, was one of the articles of his firm belief, and toward which his thoughts and his counsels were constantly directed. The place of his nativity was OUDEWATER, a small town through which flows the river Isala, and which has long been distinguished for the pleasantness and fertility of the surrounding country, and for the frugality and industry of its inhabitants. In that town he first saw the light, in the very year in which was commenced * Dr. Heylin calls him, in the French style, HARMINE; but his real name was JAMES HERMANS, or according to the Dutch mode of pateruity, HERMANSON. In imitation of other learned men, who chose such Latin names for themselves, as agreed most nearly in sound or signification with their own cognomina, he judiciously selected that of ARMINIUS, the name of the famous deliverer of Germany, who defeated Quintilius Varus, Germanicus, and other Roman Generals. The Latin and Dutch names of Arminius more nearly correspond together than those of Erasmus and Gerritson, Grotius and De Groot, Junius and Du Ion, Melancthon and Schwartzerd, Holyoake and De Sacra Quercu, or Smith and Fabricius.-See, in Appendix A., the beautiful verses of Heinsius on the two eminent men, who, in different ages, bore the name of ARMINIUS. + On this subject the Dutch Biographer of Arminius introduces a very important remark: Arminius was born in the very year in which Philip Melancthon died. When the Emperor Ferdinand heard of the death of that great Divine who conferred immortal honour on the Reformation, he is said to have exclaimed, "The counsels of that good man were always tempered by moderation." In this manner has it pleased the Great Architect to direct the affairs of mankind. As in the circle of the heavens, at one moment some of the stars are concealed, and immediately afterwards others of them are seen emerging from obscurity; so in these lower regions when any man dies who has been celebrated for learning or piety, another instantly rises up and advances towards maturity; till he at length becomes eminent among mortals, as a star of considerable magnitude, and suffers nothing in a comparison with his predecessors, who had been, during life, famous for the endowments of their minds, and the correctness of their moral conduct, and who, at length, Their bodies with their charge laid down, And ceas'd at once to work and live. the Conference of Poissy, in France, the year 1560: In whiclr Conference our deputies pleaded the cause of two thousand one hundred and ninety churches, that in a most earnest, yet suppliant manner, asked of the King of France peace, tranquility, and the liberty of conscience, in the open and unmolested profession of their religious belief, and in the exercise of that mode of worship which, in their views, accorded with the scriptures. In that year, Oudewater, like another SPARTA, presented these realms with our young LACEDEMONIAN. The same small town has also been at different periods the birthplace of JOHN DE VETERI AQUA, (or OUDEWATER,) CORNELIUS VALERIUS, and that venerable and celebrated veteran whom you here behold, RUDOLPH SNELLIUS, and who is not only an honour to the place of his nativity, but the ornament of all this University and of the Senatorial order itself. Arminius, while quite an infant, lost his father. His widowed mother, as long as she survived, led a life of piety, and was called to the exercise of the utmost frugality in the maintenance of herself and her three fatherless children. † At the time of his father's death, a clergyman resided in the town, who was a person of great honour and respectability. His name was THEODORE MILIUS, and, on account of his singular erudition and holiness, his memory is to this day cherished by the living with the greatest veneration. When this good man had conceived a taste for religious doctrines of a superior kind and of greater purity than those in which he had been educated, he determined at once never again to celebrate that abominable sacrifice of the Mass; and, for this reason, at various times he changed the place of his abode, and occasionally resided at Paris, Louvain, Cologne, and Utrecht. Finding young Arminius without a father, this excellent clergyman charged himself with his education; and as soon as his tender age was thought capable of receiving the elements of learning, he had him carefully instructed in the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, and his mind imbued with principles of religion and virtue. After he had discovered in his pupil traits of uncommon genius, he took frequent opportunities of exhorting him to lay aside and reject every consideration of worldly advancement, and to view himself as devoted to God and free to follow the dictates of his enlight* See Appendix B. The parents of Arminius were respectable people of the middle rank of life. His father was an ingenious artist, by trade a cutler; and his mother, whose maiden name was Angelica Jacobson, was a native of Dort. VOL. I. C ened conscience. He pointed out to him the extreme brevity of the earthly existence of every human creature; and described that state of being which succeeds the present life, as one concerning which no adequate judgment can be pronounced from a cursory survey of the different badges that now distinguish a slave from a free-man, but which is to be estimated only by an eternity of blessedness, or a repetition of the horrors of the second death in dreadful perpetuity. Arminius was much affected by such exhortations as these; they sunk deeply into his tender mind, and made a lasting and most salutary impression, which was afterwards improved and confirmed by a constant perusal of the scriptures, and a strict course of devout meditation. From that period, therefore, he thought no labour too great, no danger too formidable, to be encountered for such an important object; but he performed every thing in a glad and cheerful spirit, while he was inspired with the bright hopes of that better state of existence. After he had thus, for some years, in a most exemplary manner, advanced in his studies and in personal piety, and had resided at Utrecht, in the house of Emilius, his opening prospects were suddenly beclouded by an unexpected calamity, in the sudden death of that excellent and religious old clergyman, his patron. But this misfortune was in a short time repaired, by the benign and provident kindness of our gracious God; for scarcely had the venerable Æmilius been consigned to the tomb, when RUDOLPH SNELLIUS made an excursion from Hessia to his native country.* He had long been absent from the Low Countries; having fled from the tyranny of the Spaniards, and taken up his abode at Marpurgh. When he had discovered at Utrecht a young man from Oudewater, the place of his own birth, destitute of all human aid and without a protector, his feeling heart prompted him to become his benefactor, and he accordingly took him into Hessia, on his return to that part of Germany, in the year 1575. Arminius had but just become comfortably settled with his new patron, when news arrived, in the month of August, of the destruction of Oudewater. The Spaniards had besieged the town and taken it by storm. They killed the garrison, slew all the citizens that could be found, and burnt their dwellings.† ARMINIUS was now in his fifteenth year. SNELLIUS was a profound mathematician and possessed great skill in the languages. He placed Arminius as a student in the University of Marpurgh. In this dreadful carnage, neither matrons, virgins, nor infants, were spared. The minister of the town, JOHN GELASIUS, endured the agony of be This dreadful intelligence affected the susceptible heart of the youth to such a degree, as to cause him to spend the whole of fourteen days in weeping and lamentation, almost without intermission. At length, in all the impatience of youthful affection, he left Marpurgh, and hastily returned to Holland, being determined either to look once more upon his native town, though in ruins, or to meet death in the attempt. On his arrival at Oudewater, he could discover nothing but heaps of rubbish, and the intelligence was soon but too truly confirmed to him, that scarcely a single inhabitant had escaped the general carnage, and that his mother, sister, brother, and other relations, had unfortunately perished. The only object which remained, and possessed the power of rivetting for a moment his attention, was "The lovely plain on which his Ilion once had stood." Having fully gratified the first wish of his heart, he returned with mournful steps to Marpurgh, performing the journey entirely on foot between Holland and Hessia. In the midst of these occurrences, the building of this new Dutch University [at Leyden] was commenced under the aus holding his own son murdered before his eyes, and his excellent wife wounded in many places, without being able to offer them any relief: He was himself carried away prisoner, the Spaniards not having then discovered his sacred calling. After he had been a short time in their power, they agreed to liberate him for a ransom of 500 Guilders, when, just as the bargain was completed, a Beguine Nun, to whom his countenance was familiar, denounced him to his enemies as the Protestant pastor of the town, and the infuriated Papists instantly hung him on a gallows.-Christian de la CUEILLERIE, the minister of the French Protestant congregation, did not act so heroic a part, but, in contradiction to his name, saved his life by an unchristian artifice. For he told his captors, that he was a soldier of the name of Anthony, and they restored him to liberty for a ransom of 500 crowns. This terrible event made a deep and mournful impression on Arminius. For a long time he cherished the recollection that he was a native of Oudewater. An elegiac poem, which he addressed some years afterwards to a friend at Delft, commences with the following plaintive strains. Ah! fuit in Batavis urbecula finibus olim, Which may be thus translated: "Ah! once a small but lovely city stood But now by Spanish hordes with gore dis-stain'd, |