ers are rendered ineffectual, because they are displeasing to God, on the ground, that " he who misemploys that portion of knowledge which he possesses, becomes by his own act unworthy of all further communications and increase of knowledge." This is in accordance with that saying of Christ: "Unto every one that hath, shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him." (Luke xix, 26.) But to all those who employ and improve the knowledge which is given to them, Christ promises the Spirit of discernment in these words: "If any man will do the will of my Father, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John vii, 17.)

2. But amongst the very first removals, let those causes be put away which, as we previously stated (page 391) have their origin in the affections, and which are not only the instigators of this dissension, but tend to perpetuate and keep it alive. Let humility overcome pride; let a mind contented with its condition become the successor of avarice; let the love of celestial delights expel all carnal pleasures; let good-will and benevolence occupy the place of envy; let patient forbearance subdue anger; let sobriety in acquiring wisdom prescribe bounds to the desire of knowledge, and let studious application take the place of learned ignorance. Let all hatred and bitterness be laid aside; and, on the contrary, "let us put on bowels of mercies" towards those who differ from us, and who appear either to wander about in the paths of error, or to scatter its noxious seeds among others. *

fest the truth to him: After presenting this petition, such astonishing light and joy burst in upon his mind, that he formed a holy resolution to persevere steadfastly in those opinions which are generally received.———Are 'such men as this, suitable enquirers after truth? Can it be expected, that God will, in answer to a single petition, bestow his Holy Spirit in such a large measure, as to qualify the petitioner to form a right judgment of these high concerns without any possibility of error? The Lord imparts his Holy 'Spirit to his elect, after they have importunately cried to him day and night, and invoked his Divine Majesty for the communication of this gift. But 'when I hear these things about Festus, I relate the conversation which he and I had together in your presence; and I add, that I am prepared to de'monstrate to him, from the word of God, that his sentiments can on no ' account be reconciled with the scriptures.'

Arminius knew, by painful experience, that a reflecting mind, aware of the important bearings of the great subjects to which he here refers, could not thus hastily come to a conclusion about them, when, as in the case of Hommius, it had not had time to understand the exact difference between them and the opinions which it had formerly imbibed.

* This paragraph, and the four considerations which follow it, are eminently characteristic of the mild and pacific disposition of Arminius. Those

These necessary concessions we shall obtain from our minds without much difficulty, if the following four considerations become the objects of our sedulous attention:

FIRST. How extremely difficult it is to discover the truth on all subjects, and to avoid error. On this topic St. Augustine most beautifully descants, when he thus addresses those worst of heretics, the Manichees: "Let those persons be enraged against you who are ignorant of the immense labour that is required for the discovery of truth, and how difficult it is to guard against error. Let those be enraged against you who know not how uncommon a circumstance and how arduous a toil it is to overcome carnal fantasies, when such a conquest is put in comparison with serenity of mind. Let those be enraged against you who are not aware of the great difficulty with which the eye of the inner man' is healed, so as to be able to look up to God as the sun of the system. Let those be enraged against you who are personally unconscious of the many sighs and groans which must be uttered before we are capable of understanding God in the slightest degree. And, lastly, let them be enraged against you who have never been deceived by an error of such a description as that under which they see you labouring. But how angry soever all these persons may be, I cannot be in the least enraged against you, whose weaknesses it is my duty to bear, as those who were near me at that period bore with mine; and I ought now to treat you with as much patience as that which was exercised towards me when, frantic and blind, I went astray in the errors of your doctrine."

SECONDLY. That those who hold erroneous opinions have been induced through ignorance to adopt them, is far more probable, than that malice has influenced them to contrive a method of consigning themselves and other people to eternal destruction.

THIRDLY. It is possible that they who entertain these mistaken sentiments, are of the number of the elect, whom God, it is true, may have permitted to fall, but only with this design,―that design, that he may raise them up with the greater glory. How then can we indulge ourselves in any harsh or unmerciful resolutions against these persons, who have been destined

only who have attentively perused the preceding account of our author's life, and in particular his letters to his friends, cau form an adequate conception of the propriety and aptitude of this christian advice to the Bulls of Bashan, which at that time surrounded him and obstructed his benevolent progress.

to possess the heavenly inheritance, who are our brethren, the members of Christ, and not only the servants but the sons of the Lord Most High? *

LASTLY. Let us place ourselves in the circumstances of an adversary, and let him in return assume the character which we sustain; since it is as possible for us, as it is for him, to hold wrong principles. When we have made this experiment, we may be brought to think, that the very person whom we had previously thought to be in error, and whose mistakes in our eyes had a destructive tendency, may perhaps have been given to us by God, that out of his mouth we may learn the truth which has hitherto been unknown to us.

To these four reflections, let there be added, a consideration of all those articles of religion respecting which there exists on both sides a perfect agreement. These will perhaps be found to be so numerous and of such great importance, that when a comparison is instituted between them, and the others which may properly be made the subjects of controversy, the latter will be found to be few in number and of small consequence. This is the very method which a certain famous prince in France is reported to have adopted, when Cardinal Lorraine attempted to embroil the Lutherans, or those who adhered to the Augustan Confession, with the French Protestants, that he might interrupt and neutralize the salutary provisions of the Conference at Poissy, which had been instituted between the Protestants and the Papists.

But since it is customary after long and grievous wars, to enter into a truce, or a cessation from hostilities, prior to the conclusion of a treaty of peace and its final ratification; and, since, during the continuance of a truce, while every hostile attempt is laid aside, peaceful thoughts are naturally suggested, till at length a general solicitude is expressed with regard to the method in which a firm peace and lasting reconciliation may best be effected ;-it is my special wish, that there may now be among us a similar cessation from the asperities of religious warfare, and that both parties would abstain from writings full of bitterness, from sermons remarkable only for the invectives which they contain, and from the unchristian

*This is truly argumentum ad homines, regarded as Calvinists. But it will be seen, by other parts of our author's writings, that he could make this supposition in perfect good faith, even according to his own opinions on the doctrine of Election.

+ The King of Navarre.-See the preceding Appendix B, page 53.

practice of mutual anathematizing and execration. Instead of these, let the controversialists substitute writings full of moderation, in which the matters of controversy may, without respect of persons, be clearly explained and proved by cogent arguments: Let such sermons be preached as are calculated to excite the minds of the people to the love and study of truth, charity, mercy, long-suffering, and concord; which inflame the minds both of Governors and people with a desire of concluding a pacification, and may make them willing to carry into effect such a remedy as is, of all others, the best accommodated to remove dissensions.

may

That remedy is, an orderly and free convention of the parties that differ from each other: In such an assembly, (called by the Greeks a SYNOD, and by the Latins a COUNCIL,) after the different sentiments have been compared together, and the various reasons of each have been weighed, in the fear of the Lord, and with calmness and accuracy, let the members deliberate, consult, and determine what the word of God declares concerning the matters in controversy, and afterwards let them by common consent promulge and declare the result to the Churches.

The Chief Magistrates, who profess the Christian religion, will summon and convene this Synod, in virtue of the Supreme official authority with which they are divinely invested,*

The Letters of the States General, inviting the Protestant Divines of foreign countries to the National Synod, were issued on the 25th of June, 1618; and the members were summoned to meet together in the city of Dort, on the 1st of November in the same year. The Letters of Invitation, addressed to the Divines of the United Provinces, were dated 20th of September. The Synod of Dort was opened on the 13th of November. The Remonstrants had wished either to have their FIVE POINTS brought before a Provincial Synod, to prepare matters for a National one; or to have them brought at once before a General Council of Protestants, for decision. But the Calvinists would listen to neither of these equitable proposals.—If a Provincial Synod were held, especially in that Province which most needed such a remedy, they knew, from trial, how difficult it would he to combat the strong and popular arguments of the Arminians, when both parties were placed nearly on an equality in one assembly. And if a General Council of Protestants were convened, they were certain, that the principles of Arminius would be recognized as integral parts of scripture verity, and consequently entitled not only to toleration, (which was all that the poor Arminians had desired,) but to the especial patronage of the civil authorities. This result was anticipated, from the immense preponderance which the Lutheran Divines, from all the small States in Germany, and other parts of the North of Europe, would have had in such a Council. The supreme contempt in which the Calvinists held the Lutherans may be seen, passim, in the Acts of the Synod of Dort, and in the narratives of cotemporary ecclesiastical historians: It was exceeded only by the rancorous hostility which they evinced towards the Arminians, and which arose from the more imminent danger to be apprehended from the proximity and the increase

and according to the practice that formerly prevailed in the Jewish Church, and that was afterwards adopted by the

66

of the latter.-Numerous state papers on these subjects were written by the public functionaries of the different provinces in the year 1617, among which those of the composition of the learned Grotius, who conducted the arguments in favour of a General Council, are very conspicuous for the superior abilities which they display. The best reasons employed by the Calvinists for their favourite project, are entitled to no better epithet than that of special pleading. Their chief argument against a General Protestant Council is thus expressed: "Never since the beginning of the Reformation have we been able to procure a General Council of Protestants, notwithstanding the troubles which have in various places infested the Church; as, amongst others, in the case of the quarrel in Germany about the UBIQUITY, which has been kept alive by the Book of Concord, unjustly so called."-Grotius answers it in these words: Although there has not yet been a General Council of the Reformed Churches, it does not follow that such an assembly never can or will be convened. The differences in these Provinces are of such a nature as is sufficient to require the advice of our brethren of all the Reformed Churches; and this the more particularly, because they furnish the Lutherans with stronger pretences for refusing communion with us, than on any other account. Besides, the drawing up of a GENERAL CONFESSION, and the choice of the most proper means for uniting all Protestants, may be promoted on such an occasion. God Almighty seems likewise to have given us no small hopes of this, in having lately moved the hearts of the King of Great Britain, the Elector Palatine, and other Princes of Germany, to consent to it. That the Reformed Church of France has the same views, appears by the treatise which Du Moulin has published. True it is indeed, that the Pope and his party, being sensible of the great loss which they must thus sustain, will leave no means unattempted to hinder it : But this very circumstance ought to encourage us the more earnestly in our endeavours to effect it."-A NATIONAL SYNOD was therefore the sole remedy which the wisdom, or rather the worldly prudence of the Calvinists, could discover for removing the maladies under which the Church of Christ in Holland was at that time labouring. In shewing cause for their preference, they were placed in an awkward dilemma: For they perceived, that the strongest reasons to be adduced for the adoption of this measure, would extend too far, and might, in the hands of their able autagonists, be made to apply with greater cogency to the convening of a General Council. They tried to ward off these consequences by suggesting, that "as the design of a National Synod is only to restore the churches of the United Provinces to their former rest and tranquillity, all the useful purposes to which we can apply the presence of some Foreign Divines, is, to be instructed by them in the sentiments of their churches in reference.to the points in controversy, and to be directed by their advice not only in the establishment of our peace, but also in cultivating a good correspondence with them." The Dutch Calvinists knew, that any assembly which did not bear some resemblance to a General Council, by being composed partly of foreigners, would not satisfy even the most moderate of their own persuasion. This is declared, after their own fashion, by the members of the Synod, in the preface to their ACTS; in which they say: "But since the Remonstrants did not appear to hold the judgment of the Belgic Churches in any great estimation, and since they had always endeavoured to persuade the people, that there was no difference between their sentiments and those of the Reformed Churches, it pleased their High Mightinesses to invite to this Synod from all the Reformed Churches in the neighbouring Kingdoms, Principalities, and Republics, some divines distinguished by their piety, learning, and prudence, that they might assist with their judgments and couusels the deputies of the Belgie Churches, and that these countroversies, having been thus examined and