Animated by that "faith which worketh by love," he delighted in the various exercises of religion. To a regular and devout attendance on public worship, he added a conscientious performance of the more retired duties of the family and the closet. He never was happier than when he enjoyed fellowship with Heaven in spiritual meditation, and in stated and ejaculatory prayer. In singing praises to his Saviour and his God, he found a similar pleasure; and with a view to assist himself and his friends in that noble exercise, he composed several beautiful Hymns. The objects of eternity, in fact, were habitually present to his mind; and it was the wish of his heart to promote the highest interests of his pupils, and the people of his charge. The whole tenour of his conduct served to evince, that he was himself "spiritually minded," and that he aspired at nothing less, on behalf of all of whom he had the oversight, than to guide them, by the united influence of precept and example, to "the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The religion of which Witsius was so able a teacher and so bright a pattern, be it remarked in conclusion, was equally at variance with that of the cold formalist, and the proud self-righteous devotee. With him it was a fundamental maxim, that Christ" in all things must have the pre-eminence;" and free and sovereign grace, reigning through the person and righteousness of the great Immanuel, he cordially regarded as at once the source of all our hope, and the grand incitement to a holy practice.

This extraordinary man, though dead, yet speaks by his writings; most of which, it is hoped, will continue, through many succeeding ages, to give instruction and delight to the lovers of sacred truth. In the year

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1660, about three years after his entrance on the ministry, he published a learned and ingenious Treatise in Latin, which is now extremely scarce, entitled "Judæus "Christianizans circa principia fidei et S. S. Trinita“tem,” i. e. “The Jew resembling the Christian with regard to the principles of faith and the doctrine of "the Holy Trinity." In the year 1665, he gave to the public, in the vernacular language of Holland, "The practice of Christianity, with a spiritual representation, first, of what is laudable in the unregenerate, and then, of what is culpable in the regenerate.” He afterwards published, in the same language, "The "Lord's Controversy with his vineyard," and a defence of that treatise against some who impugned its tenets. His subsequent works in Latin were first given to the world at different dates, whilst he filled the theological chair successively at Franeker, Utrecht, and Leyden; and were afterwards collected in six Quarto Volumes. The first contains his celebrated work on the Covenants, which was early translated into Dutch by HARLINGIUS, a Minister of the Gospel at Hoorn, and of which an English Version has for nearly sixty years been in the hands of the public. The second Volume includes the Dissertations on the Creed, and on the Lord's Prayer. Those on the Creed were turned into Dutch soon after their publication, by Mr COSTERUS at Delft. His third Volume consists principally of a very learned treatise entitled Egyptiaca. Its subject is the sacred rites of the Egyptians compared with those of the Hebrews; and the Author's design is to refute the sentiments of those who hold, that the ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual were borrowed from the idolatrous observances of ancient Egypt. The same Volume includes, also, the Decaphylon, or an Inquiry into the fortunes of the ten tribes of Israel, and an

Essay on the Thundering Legion under Aurelius Antoninus. The general title of Volumes fourth and fifth is Miscellanea Sacra, "Sacred Miscellanies." The Prophets and Prophecies of Scripture, the mysteries of the Levitical tabernacle, and the heresy of the Donatists, form the principal subjects of the fourth. The fifth, besides twenty-three Dissertations on a vast variety of topics, biblical, historical, and theological, comprises several public Orations, and the Irenicum, or "Conciliatory Animadversions" formerly noticed. A faithful Translation of this excellent little work, followed with judicious Notes, by the late Rev. Thomas Bell of Glasgow, was published in that city, in the year 1807. The sixth and last Volume contains the most of those performances of the author which were originally published during his residence at Leyden. It consists of academical Lectures on the life of the Apostle Paul, twelve Dissertations on various topics, and a Commentary on the Epistle of Jude.

It would be improper to protract this Memoir by a more particular account of these instructive Volumes. The brief sketch of their contents now given will enable the English reader to form some idea of their value and extent. At their first appearance they were eagerly sought after in every Protestant country, and underwent numerous impressions. The lapse of more than a century has neither consigned them to oblivion nor impaired their worth; and many learned and good men have expressed their persuasion, that the Works of Witsius are immortal, and that they will never cease to be admired for the classical elegance with which they are written, the profound and varied erudition they discover, and the spirit of ardent and evangelical piety which they uniformly breathe.

TO THE

MOST NOBLE AND MOST HONOURABLE,

THE CONSULS AND SENATORS,

OF THE

ILLUSTRIOUS REPUBLIC OF UTRECHT,

NURSING FATHERS OF THE CHURCH,

AND

PATRONS OF THE UNIVERSITY;

THESE DISSERTATIONS ON THE CREED,

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY

H. WITSIUS.

EVER since I entered on academical employments, FATHERS OF THE SENATE, I have considered it as the principal part of the business assigned me, to exert my best endeavours, with purity, perspicuity, accuracy, moderation, and gravity, to inculcate the sacred truth of the Gospel on the Students committed to my care, and to refer it, in its whole extent, to the practice of undissembled piety. As there is nothing more excellent, nothing more deserving of diligent study, and nothing which it is more profitable or pleasant to know, than that divine doctrine; so it is a subject, which, above all others, requires to be treated with pure and