The Remonstrants were at that time a dispersed body; and a connection with them would not have suited his pecuniary needs, though agreeable to his religious principles. The Dutch Calvinists had ejected him from their communion; and their French brethren shewed him as little mercy. In the Church of England, moderate as she is in her terms of communion, he could not then have found a place; because Abbot still bore ecclesiastical sway, and had exposed him to the whole world as an abandoned heretic. To a person of his sanguine temperament, therefore, goaded as he was by the reproaches of his wife and her Calvinistic relatives, the change, though a desperate measure, was one which Bertius attempted to justify by the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, and in particular by his high regard for Antiquity. Nothing, however, can be pleaded in extenuation of an enlightened Protestant, who deserts his own Church and enters into that of Rome. How much more noble does the conduct of the suffering Remonstrant Ministers now appear, who, after enduring for seven years all the evils connected with a state of imprisonment or of exile, were restored to their country and friends in 1626, immediately after the death of their grand persecutor, Prince Maurice! Bertius lived in a state of great obscurity in Paris, and survived this act of shameful apostacy only a few years: He died in that city of an atrabilious dysentery, in 1629, as the famous Guy Patin informs us, who attended him during his illness and says, that, though Bertius had changed his religion, he was always loud in his commendations of his father-in-law Kuchlinus. V.-Page 40. Bertius has well described the charge preferred by the Classis of Dort, respecting some doctrinal disagreement between the different Professors, and the very prudent answer returned by the latter. He then says, that "he would have related the cognizance which the Supreme Court took of these and other reports, had he not thought that all persons then present were well acquainted with the result." The good Dutchmen of that period might be acquainted with all the particulars which preceded the notice that their High Mightinesses took of the affair: To us however, who live two centuries later, the following information from the younger Brandt may be useful: But some persons, says this able biographer of Arminius, not without just reason wondered by what means Gomarus could bring himself to sign such a testimonial, [as " that no difference existed, among the Professors of Theology, that could be con 66 sidered as in the least affecting the Fundamentals of doctrine."] For it was evident, that the opinions which Arminius entertained on Predestination had not only been severely animadverted upon by this man in a public and sufficiently virulent disputation, but he had likewise exaggerated the importance of this controversy in such a manner, as to induce people to think that he viewed it as fundamental. Other persons, on the contrary, collected from this fact, that Gomarus had then purposed, notwithstanding the difference in their sentiments, to cultivate a true friendship with Arminius; and that he really would have cultivated it, had not the clamours of other men prevented him from indulging in these his wishes. That Arminius had cherished similar hopes, is rendered evident by the following expression, which occur in a letter addressed to Uitenbogaert, June 7th, 1605: "I am completely at peace with Gomarus; and am of opinion that it will remain sufficiently firm, unless he listens to that person, [Festus Hommius,] who seems to aim at this one thing alone that he may not be found to have been a false prophet. It shall, on the contrary, be my endeavour to make my modesty and equanimity conspicuous to all men, that I may be superior at once in the goodness of my cause, and in my mode of acting."-On this occasion, the mention of another circumstance must not be omitted: Some people relate, that Gomarus himself was in the habit of occasionally declaring, not without evident regret, before his familiar friends, "that he could easily be induced to cultivate friendship with Arminius; but that the unceasing importunity of the Churches and their deputies had placed obstacles in the way of this his salutary desire." A few weeks after the Curators had secured the peace of the University, by calling together the Professors of Divinity, the Synod of South Holland, which met at Rotterdam on the 30th of August, 1605, began to adopt on this subject counsels that were much more hasty and intemperate. When the members of this ecclesiastical assembly had heard, from the delegates of the Dort Classis, the reasons which had induced them to transmit the grievance recorded in page 39, and had likewise learnt from the Synodical deputies the state of the University of Leyden, and the result of their interview with Arminius and the rest of the Professors, [see page 527,] they determined, after mature deliberation, that it was necessary to oppose a timely resistance to this increasing evil, and that the remedy for it ought not to be deferred under the uncertain hope of obtaining a National Synod. They resolved therefore to institute a most rigorous inquiry, by means of their deputies, into the doctrinal articles which were the chief subjects of discussion among the theological students in the University of Leyden; and to request the Curators to command the Professors of Divinity to declare their sentiments, with openness and sincerity, on the points under discussion. [The result of their interview with Arminius is related, in his own words, page 528.] Notwithstanding these things, says the younger Brandt, Arminius strenuously fulfilled his official duties; and, in the first place, endeavoured, as far as it was practicable, to propagate still further the Truth which he knew, without noise or dissension. For that purpose he was careful, on every occasion, to contain himself within the terms of the Confession and Catechism, at least, to say nothing which might be confuted by those two documents, nothing, with which they might not be well and openly reconciled.* For though he had probably observed in those formularies of consent a few things that appeared sometimes to favour the sentiments which were contrary to his own, and which he might wish to have been written in phraseology better accommodated to his opinions; yet he believed it possible for him to keep himself within the same boundaries, and by the aid of a mild interpretation to soften the asperity of certain phrases, and to wait till they received a fuller interpretation and a complete revision in a National Synod.† For he thought, that he could do this, by the same right as that by which all those Calvinists who were subjects to the Emperor of Germany, supposed that they could lawfully and with a good conscience subscribe the Augsburgh Confession, and all and each of its articles: This, however, it was scarcely possible for them to have done, without the help of an indulgent interpretation, since there is such a semblance of contradiction between the Augsburgh and the other Confessions of Faith, that the Divines of Geneva did not consider it proper to publish it [in the Harmony of Confessions] without the counteracting charm of their own interpretations and cautions. Imitating their example, and rejoicing in the same allowed right, he seemed to himself to be doing nothing that was unworthy of a Reformed divine, if, for the confirmation of his own sentiments on Divine Predestination and other articles of the Christian Faith, he called to his aid not only the sacred oracles, but likewise the two formularies of consent. This was the reason why, at a time when he was See pp. 558, 590, 641. † Page 645. P. 558. about to hold a disputation on Predestination in his private Class, he ordered the young man who had to act the part of Respondent, to express his Theses on this subject in the very words of the Dutch Confession.* About the same time he held a very learned disputation on the Comparison between the Law and the GOSPEL, and on the Agreement and Difference between the Old and the New Testament; the part of Respondent. having devolved, under his auspices, on that very accomplished youth, Peter Cunæus, who afterwards became a singular ornament to the University of Leyden and to Literature. Towards the close of this disputation, one of the students raised this objection, "It is impossible for man to do otherwise than transgress the Law, because no resistance can be made to the decree of God, by which it has been determined that the Law shall be transgressed." Though Arminius promptly replied to this objection in virtue of his office, yet he forbade such expressions to be afterwards employed unless accompanied with this or a similar protest, "Far be blasphemy from the supposition!" Yet this daring proposition of the candidate for Holy Orders gave much umbrage to some of the Professors, who were present at the disputations; and one of them, who was not the lowest in authority, and of remarkable modesty, took an early opportunity of telling Arminius, that such conduct as that ought to be checked and repressed, and that authority ought to be interposed to prevent such reproachful objections. Arminius excused the deed by remarking, that the youth who urged the objection had been so instructed by certain divines; and that academic authority could scarcely be interposed, on account of the vehemence of some men who entertained opposite sentiments. The Professor declared the pleasure which he felt on hearing Arminius admonishing the young man about blasphemy.† In the meantime he derived no small degree of strength and confidence from the immense number of auditors whom, at this period, he daily attracted to his public lectures by the singular gracefulness of his speaking and his mode of teaching, and by his perspicuous interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. About the same time, also, his private class was in such a flourishing state, that a single class would not have been sufficient for the number of his pupils, had not several been impressed with a fear, that too close an intimacy with hir might at some future time operate to their disadvantage. Since therefore envy is generally considered the attendant on virtue, as well as on real * P. 590. + Præst, ac Erudit. Vito. Epist. 80. D erudition, it ought to excite amazement in no one if Arminius was likewise compelled to contend with this Hydra, on account of the daily increasing reputation of his learning. The degree of human infirmity which Gomarus displayed on his weak side, may be readily ascertained from this circumstance: One day when Arminius was passing through the Hall of the University, Gomarus accosted him in a manner sufficiently virulent, and with angry emotion exclaimed, They say, you are more learned than Junius! Peter Plancius, one of the ministers of the Church of Amsterdam, about the same time began to assail Arminius, his disciples and admirers, with the most acrimonious clamours from the pulpit: He traduced them under the epithets of Followers of Koornhert, The New Pelagians, and much worse than Pelagius himself. Nay, so violent was this fiery zealot, that he seemed to have turned aside the very capacities of those who were not the most skilful, and to have connected together things that were not deducible consequences and had no natural agreement. Some persons also imitated his example, being either inflamed with an inveterate hatred against him, or induced by the pious solicitude with which they embraced the received doctrine: They began to disseminate, in the vulgar tongue before the people, those points which had been disputed with some subtlety in the seats of the University; and this they did, by a manifest departure from the truth, and with minds little disposed to the peaceful edification of Christians. Some inculcated on the promiscuous multitude, that the doctrine of the Belgic Confession, which had been confirmed by the blood of so many Martyrs,* was called in question; and others, that a mixed and confused species of religion was in a course of preparation, and that serious thoughts were entertained about the introduction of libertinism.†-But Arminius, perceiving the necessity, which was thus imposed on him, of vindicating his innocence both in public and in private, managed his cause, in this state of affairs, with a mind that exhibited an abundant calmness and serenity. I employ his own words when I say, "that he considered this to be the most excellent kind of revenge-by doing good to cause it to be seen, that they have fared the worse who spurned the offered friendship and fraternal kindness." Besides, that he might the more deeply imbue the minds of his pupils with the genuine desire for peace, he believed nothing was more necessary to be inculcated upon them than an earnest endeavour to discriminate, according VOL. I. See pages 648-657. Answer to the Letter of the Minister of Walcheren, p. 9. * U |