in the theses on the traduction (or drawing) of man, as a sinner, to life.— The President enquired, Whether the larger explanation which Maccovius had offered to the Synod, ought to be read in the Synod?, and What method should be adopted in the management of this cause? Some of the foreign divines declared, that it was possible to reduce those fifty errors to four or five, and that no real charge of heresy as objected against him could be detected in them. All the foreigners were of opinion, that the affair ought to be consigned to a committee; and they desired, that two foreign divines and two Dutch Professors might be nominated, to whom might be added two ministers, and that this Committee should take cognizance of the whole matter and deliver their report to the Synod. The greatest part of them thought, that the prolix explanation of Maccovius ought not to be heard in the Synod, but should be referred to the Committee.-The Genevan Divines were the only persons that disapproved of this advice: Diodati wished this business to be left entirely to the inland members after the departure of the Foreign Divines: But Tronchinus [his colleague] in a most violent speech contended, that Maccovius ought by no means to be publicly heard, that no other mode of proceeding should be adopted in his case than had been pursued in that of the Remonstrants and Episcopius, and that he ought to be judged out of his writings.-Every one was astonished at such a conclusion as this against a man who was by no means suspected of heterodoxy."-Then followed the indecent quarrel between Hommius and Lubbertus, described page 469.

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In the next Session, on the 27th of April, after the declaration of Ames had been stated, as recorded in page 453, Balcanqual says, "It was at last decided by a majority of votes, that the third of the papers of Maccovius should be publicly read in the Synod and that three foreign and three inland Divines 'should be chosen as a Committee, to take cognizance of the whole affair ⚫ and report it to the Synod.' But as the President said, that the paper which had been mentioned contained many personal reflections, and particularly some that were aimed at Sibrandus, some of the foreign divines requested, for the sake of preserving peace, that the votes of the members on this point should be again taken, which was accordingly done; and the decision of the majority then was, that the paper should be read only in private before the Committee. The Committee chosen by the majority for hearing this affair, consisted of Schultetus, Sthenius and Breytingerus from the foreign Divines, and of Gomarus, Thysius and Mehnius from the Provincials. It excited the astonishment of the foreign members, that Schultetus should have been nominated by the inland members, and still more that he should have undertaken such a service, when the Theological Faculty of Heidelberg, of which he formed a part, had already condemned the theses under examination, as frivolous, metaphysical and false.

"On the 30th of April, was read the Report of the Synodical Committee on the case of Maccovius, the sum of which was, that Maccovius could not be 'considered guilty of any thing like Heathenism, Judaism, Pelagianism, 'Socinianism, or any other kind of heresy; and that he had been unjustly 'accused; but that his offence consisted in employing certain ambiguous and 'obscure scholastic phrases, in endeavouring to introduce into the Dutch Uni6 versities the scholastic mode of teaching, and in selecting those questions for disputation which were accounted the Pests of the Dutch Churches ; that he ought therefore to be admonished, no longer to employ the expressions of Bellarmine and Suarez, but to speak in the language of the Holy Ghost; "that these things ought to be considered as faults in him-his assertion that the sufficiency and the efficacy of the death of Christ is a foolish distinction,his denying that the human race considered as fallen was not the object of predestination,-and his maintaining, that God has both willed and decreed 'sins, that God has by no means willed the salvation of all men, and that there are two elections; and that, according to their judgment, the slight quarrel between him and Sibrandus ought to be terminated, and no person ought hereafter to prefer against him any more such accusations.''

Such was the Report of the Synodical Committee on this affair. On the evening of the 4th of May, when the case of Vorstius was decided, judgment was also pronounced on Maccovius. It is thus related by Balcanqual: "Before the termination of this session, which continued to a late hour in the night, the Report of the Committee on the case of Maccovius was read, and approved by a majority of votes. For, according to their judgment, though he ought to be absolved from all charge of heresy, yet he ought to be admonished to adopt a more appropriate method of teaching Theology, and to em. ploy such forms of speech as may be collected from the sacred scriptures. They also thought, that he had rendered himself justly reprehensible on account of certain propositions which he had crudely and rigidly defended."— Donia, an elder of the Church at Leuwarden, made some objections to this conclusion of the matter, and drew out of his bosom a form of the accusation which Sibrandus had been instructed to prefer, but which like a cautious man he had refused to undertake. But when this interruption to the unanimity of the Synod, had excited a great ferment and much discourse, "the political commissioners," says Balcanqual, "terminated the discussion by the sound of their hammer, which is the method employed by them to enforce silence on those who are noisy and obstreperous." This argumentum baculinum was found to be one of the most convenient and forcible weapons wielded by the Synod of Dort for convincing the gainsayers: and its efficacy, on more occasions than this, was rendered very apparent.

Bishop Womack, quoting from the ANTIDOTUM of the Remonstrants, gives the following account :

"When Maccovius, Professor of Franequer in Friezland, had not only asserted and disseminated by his writings the most horrid opinion, of all that ever had been written about Predestination by Zuinglius and Piscator; and moreover in the very Synod undertook, against his colleague Sibrandus Lubbertus, to maintain, that God wills sin, that he ordains men to sin, as it is sin; that God in no wise would have all men to be saved, and many things of the like import, declaring openly, that if these things were not maintained, they must forsake their chief doctors who had taught those things, and fall into the opinion of the Remonstrants. What said the Synod to this bold Supra-Creatarian? Did they sequester or displace him? No; but accounted him for a pure Orthodox Divine, guilty neither of heresy nor erroneous doctrine, as it was declared by the public testimony of the Synod; and so they dismissed him with a wholesome and friendly Caution, to forbear such forms of speech as might give offence to tender ears, and could not be digested by persons ignorant and uncapable of so great mysteries: and that he would not set light by those distinctions of divines, who had deserved well of the Church of Christ." When the ingenuous reader has instituted a comparison between the treatment which Vorstius endured from the Synod, and that which Maccovius received, (narrated as both of them are in the words of a famous Synodist,) he will not feel any doubts respecting the partiality of that memorable assembly. Though Maccovius entertained many sentiments almost diametrically opposed to those of Vorstius, yet, on the common principle that companionship in tribulation constitutes a strong bond of union, these two heretics were on very friendly terms and consulted with each other, throughout the whole of the Synodical process in their respective cases. The subjoined letter will render

a further explanation unnecessary :

"In behalf of JOHN MACCOVIUS, Grace and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, are, in return, intreated by me, CONRAD VORSTIUS. "Most famous man and greatly honoured in the Lord! The information which you transmitted to me three days ago, was undoubtedly very agreeable to me, not only because you wished in it faithfully to declare to me the moderate and unbiassed opinion which Martinius entertains of me, but principally because you have been pleased once more familiarly to intimate, in the same communication, your own sentiments, which you have also openly

expressed to me in my own house, and which are connected with an apparently amicable feeling toward me.-But I wish you to be well assured, that to me nothing will prove more gratifying than to have truly Christian reasons tendered to me by the Synod, and particularly by the foreign divines, that through them may be procured and established a godly reconciliation of mind between those who consider themselves offended by my writings, and me, with some others, who, it may be hoped, have not hitherto been worthless objects of attention to the Reformed Church. I am prepared to do every thing which is decent and becoming in a good man, and which it will be possible for me to do with a good conscience and without injury to the truth. If God have bestowed on me any endowments, (and it is not my province ostentatiously to boast of such talents,) I am desirous of uniting with you in devoting them most willingly to the common edification of the Church and to the destruction of the kingdom of Antichrist. I wish you to direct your labours only to one point, in your intercourse with the rest of the divines who are now collected together at the Synod, and that is, to obtain real and full liberty for me and others in similar circumstances to confer about the whole affair in a modest and peaceable manner and in the fear of God, with those persons who have competent skill in these controversies. In which case, I am confident, it will appear, that in many of these disputes I have (to say the least) been undeservedly traduced; and that in other differences which are merely scholastic, a moderate degree of liberty ought to be granted to each party. In this manner will a straight way for peace be formed: May our Lord Jesus now at length grant it to us and to all his Church! Amen.

"Salute for me in the most obliging manner Martinius and other old friends, to whom (I believe) you are now much better known. If you will have the goodness, the next time you write, to state the bearing of their judgment concerning me, as well as that of other persons who probably still retain a disadvantageous opinion of me, you will perform a most acceptable service. Farewell in the Lord, most famous man! and commend me in your prayers.-GOUDA, January 3rd, 1619: And I heartily pray, that it may please God to make this new year a prosperous and happy one to you and all good men -Forgive the imperfections of this letter, the bad writing in which is to be attributed to the infirm state of my health."

V. In a preceding note, (page 429,) reference has been made to the confederacy of the Contra-Remonstrant ministers against the followers of Arminius. Grotius has given a very particular account of the unchristian practices of those turbulent leaders of the people, in the Sixth and Ninth Books of his APOLOGY FOR THE STATES OF HOLLAND; and Episcopius, in his ANTIDOTUM, has presented us at greater length with the very terms in which their several agreements were expressed. The following extract from Grotius will exemplify the bad spirit which actuated the Calvinists of that period:

"Because such schisms did not spread fast enough for the wishes of those JEHUS, they composed and published a great number of books, in order to seduce the people. They held meetings, or sham Synods, in the years 1612, 13, 14, and 15; at which they made Canons, not only for excluding all civil magistrates from the superintendence of their churches, but also against permitting a Toleration; they likewise addressed letters to such persons as were disposed to an accommodation, to divert them from such a measure, and they publicly opposed the resolutions of the States in favour of Toleration. After this, in the month of January of the present year, (1617,) they held a secret assembly in Amsterdam, at which several pastors and schismatical elders, who were the chief promoters of such proceedings, passed the following decree, to animate and incite others by their example to effect a separation." Grotius then quotes the whole of this schismatical decree and some others; but for our purpose the subjoined extract will suffice: Finding moreover, that certain persons, calling themselves REMONSTRANTS, have 'greatly derogated from the doctrine of God and the merits of Jesus Christ, have brought into suspicion before the magistrates those men who adhere te pure doctrine, and have traduced them as refractory to the authority of

the States, represented them as seditious, and, after imposing civil penalties, have attempted by every means in their power to prevent by the magis'trates the exercise of their religious worship, while they [the Remonstrants] ' in the mean time scatter their poison and find persons to patronize them,— 'we cannot avoid testifying by this instrument, that the brethren who sepa'rate from such disturbers and tormentors of the Churches, act with perfect 'propriety and in conformity with the words of the Apostle, Rom. xvi, 17 and * 2 Johu 10, 11. And as long as these Remonstrants place themselves in 'opposition to sound doctrine and ecclesiastical order, and study to defend the noxious FIVE POINTS and those ecclesiastical Canons which they allege ' as a pretence, we consider ourselves bound in duty to acknowledge them as 'men with whom it is by no means lawful for us to hold any public connexion, or to account them as members of our congregations, because they have ' a different design and doctrine to those which Christ, his Apostles, and the Reformed Churches have had, up to the present period: Finally, we separate 'from them until they desist from their doctrine, because they endeavour to lay another foundation; nor will we ever suffer ourselves to be induced by the persuasions of any persons, HOW HIGH SOEVER THEIR CONDITION MAY 'BE, to recede from this our purpose and to be reconciled to those Remonstrants, until a different resolution about this matter shall have been formed by a 'lawful Synod that judges according to the word of God; and we request our 'beloved brethren and fellow-labourers, who preserve the same doctrine and ' order with us, to testify by the signature of their names, that their senti'ments and ours are alike.'

From these expressions, and the acts which corresponded with them, the design of the Contra-Remonstrants was very evident; and they soon effected, in several of the Dutch Churches, that dreadful schism which ended in the convention of the Synod of Dort and in the disgraceful conduct of its managers. Sufficient explanation has now been given respecting the circumstances and decisions of this famous Synod, to enable the reader to understand several of the remarks of Arminius in the preceding Oration and in the annexed Declaration of his Sentiments before the States of Holland. Those persons who wish for more ample information on the doctrinal topics decided by that reverend assembly in a manner perfectly unique, may consult Bishop Womack's Arcana Dogmatum Anti-Remonstrantium, or THE CALVINISTS' CABINET UNLOCKED: In an Apology for Tilenus, against a pretended Vindication of the Synod of Dort, at the provocation of Master R. BAXTER, held forth in the Preface to his Grotian Religion : &c. &c. This good old treatise contains not only the most complete exposure of the pernicious doctrines of the Synod, but also an able refutation of that specious and recently-fashionable modification of Calvinism, which, under the softened name of BAXTERIANISM, is espoused by all those who are ashamed of openly avowing their attachment to the rigid and unscriptural tenets of the Genevan Reformer. I shall in the course of a few weeks publish a new edition of the pious Bishop's treatise, and in the Introductory Remarks prefixed to it, shall endeavour to confute that egregious mass of slander, misrepresentation, and error which disfigures a late publication, entitled THE ARTICLES OF THE SYNOD OF DORT, &c., with the History of Events which made way for that Synod.-Translated from the Latin, with Notes, Remarks, and References, by the Rev. THOMAS SCOTT, Rector of Aston Sandford, Bucks.-This aged clergyman talks rather largely about "all his studies of modern controversy," and yet proves himself to have been ignorant of this circumstance,-that the abridgment of the Articles of the Synod of Dort which he reprehends in Dr. Heylin, was first given in good English by Bishop Womack, in his EXAMINATION OF TILENUS, (a new edition of which has been lately published,) several years prior to the publication of the celebrated HISTORIA QUINQUARTICULARIS. "The Examination of Tilenus" produced a most virulent reply from the famous Richard Baxter, in a pamphlet, entitled The Grotian Religion DiscovERED, &c. With a Preface, vindicating the Synod of Dort from the calumnies of the New Tilenus, &c. : In which with a degree of querulousness nearly equal to that of Mr. Scott's,

but with far greater ability, Mr. Baxter objected most strenuously against each of these abbreviated articles.-That was the period when the venerable Church of England lay in ruins, and when Republicanism and Independency were triumphant. Dr. Womack was one of those pious and learned individuals who, by the arbitrary measures of the persons then in power, were compelled to give place to such half-educated yet self-reputed competent pastors, as were judged worthy, from their hatred of Arminianism aud Episcopacy, to be inducted into the vacant livings; and as he had, unhappily for himself, a great portion of leisure, he composed his ARCANA DOGMATUM ANTI-REMONSTRANTIUM, in answer to Baxter's objections, and, in all the meekness of wisdom which became such a great and good man, most signally discomfited that adversary, and repelled all his charges. Now, this is the very pamphlet which Dr. Heylin quotes as his authority for almost every important fact related in his Historia Quinquarticularis respecting the Synod of Dort and the ecclesiastical differences in the Low Countries. The admirers of Mr. Scott might therefore have spared many of those invectives with which they have with great injustice loaded the memory of Dr. Heylin, and tried to invalidate his testimony as a creditable historian. Though Arminius and those who imitated his moderation held some scriptural truths that were not received by Dr. Heylin, yet the character of the latter is safe from the shafts of Calvinistic calumny, which fall perfectly harmless at his feet when they are directed against his accuracy and faithfulness as a narrator of facts and occurrences in relation to the growth and rank produce of Unconditional Election and Reprobation.

1. But this allusion to persons who adhere to doctrines less gracious than those of Arminius, reminds me of one slanderous accusation against the Remonstrants which Mr. Scott has borrowed from Dr. Maclaine's note to Mosheim, (Vol. V. 442,) in which he says, "This toleration was offered them "in the Conference held at the Hague, in the year 1611, provided they would "renounce the errors of Socinianism." The Doctor then refers to Triglandius, whose bad faith and base calumnies are not unknown to the admirers of Arminius. He also refers to Henry Brandt's Relation of the Hague Conference, which, as declared in page 432, is a vile ex-parte account,-a counter statement of the same conference having been published by Bertius on the part of the Remonstrants. Mr. Scott has not quoted either of these authorities, but has given the broad assertion without any qualification, much in the same manner as he artfully coupled Socinianism and Arminianism together in his Force of Truth, page 46. It is a fact well known to all who are conversant with the polemical tracts of the age in which Arminius flourished, that the chief expedient, to which the Calvinists had recourse for rendering his scriptural doctrines odious in the eyes of the people, was, to misrepresent them as Socinian. But this vile perversion of truth respecting him, was too palpable to be of any great avail or of long duration. In reference to him, therefore, it was soon abandoned, and applied with some colour of truth to one or two of his followers, who, after his decease, had incautiously adopted a few objectionable expressions, from which, by uncharitable and forced inferences, unscriptural dogmas might be deduced. But even in reference to these insulated individuals, this false charge was soon relinquished. For a proof of this, I refer Mr. Scott and his friends to Responsio Remonst. ad Specimen Calumniarum &c.; to Verus Theologus Remonstrans; and to Vedelius Rhapsodus, composed by Episcopius, to whom these charges particularly related. The Confession or Declaration of their Faith, published in 1621, contradicts this slanderous accusation in such a plain manner as to induce the [Calvinistic] Professors of Divinity at Leyden publicly to confess and affirm in the Censure [which they wrote against the Arminian doctrines,] that "the declarations of the Remonstrants in their Confession, with regard to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, were of such a kind as not to incur any just reprehension, and perfectly agreed with the analogy of faith.”—The celebrated Vedelius also, one of the most inveterate enemies and bitter writers that the Remonstrants ever encountered, was compelled by the force and evidence of truth to declare,