The Life of Hugo Grotius written by Charles Butler

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But no work upon this famous Synod deserves more attention than
"_Johannis Halesii, Historia Concilii Dordraceni, J. Laur. Moshemius
Theol. Doct. et P.P.C. ex Anglico Sermone latine vertit, variis
observationibus et Vita Halesii ausit. Accessit ejusdem de auctoritate
Concilii Dordraceni Paci Sacrae noxii, Consultatio. Hamburgi_, 8vo." M.
Le Clere's criticism on this work (_Bibliotheque ancienne et moderne_
Vol. 23, art. 4.) contains much valuable information upon the Synod, and
a summary of the life and writings of Mr. Hales.--Des Maizeaux published
a curious account of them in 1719.]

[Footnote 031: Pfaffii Hist. Literaria, vol. ii. p. 303.]

[Footnote 032: Burigni's Life of Grotius, lib. ii. sect. 12.]

[Footnote 033: Cent XVII, sect. 2, Part 2 (Note Y.)]

[Footnote 034: Mr. James Nicholls's Calvinism and Arminianism compared.
Vol. i. p. 597, 600, 634, 636.]

[Footnote 035: See Mr. Dugald Stewart's first Dissertation, sect. III.]

[Footnote 036: See Joannis Christopheri Locheri Dissertatio Epistolica
Historiam libelli Grotiani _De Veritate Religionis Christianae_
complectens, 1725, in quarto; and the Journal de Scavans for the year
1724.]

[Footnote 037: See Nichols's Calvinism and Arminianism compared, vol. i.
p. 289.]

[Footnote 038: On the respect, which the Church of England considers to
be due to the writings of the early Fathers, see the excellent Appendix
to the Sermons of Dr. Jebb, the Right Reverend Bishop of Limerick.]

[Footnote 039: Vol. iii. L. 38. This letter merits a serious perusal.]

[Footnote 040: Dict. Historique, Preliminaire, p. xxix.]

[Footnote 041: Vol.1. p. 121]

[Footnote 042: Those, who will read his life, published by the writer of
these pages, with other Tracts, in 1819, will not, it is believed, think
this too strong an assertion. Is it not to be earnestly hoped, that in
the distress by which we are now visited, and the greater distress with
which we are threatened, many St. Vincents will appear?]

[Footnote 043: Mosheim's Ecc. Hist. ch. ii. sect. ii. part. ii. and
Bynkershock's Quest. Juris publici, lib. ii. ch. 18.]

[Footnote 044: Le Clerc, (Bib. Anc. et Mod. vol. xxiii. Art. iv.)
strenuously objects to this representation of Dr. Mosheim. "The
Arminians," he says, "have introduced no dogma as necessary to
salvation, which was unknown to the framers of their Confession of
Faith; neither have they retrenched from it, any article essential to
faith." He however observes, "that there are many ways of explaining
dogmas." Now, the same dogma explained in two ways, amounts to two
dogmas.]

[Footnote 045: See the third part of "_the last of Bossuet's Six
Addresses to the Protestants_," and the passages which he cites in it
from Jurieu.

For the actual state of Religious Doctrine, both in the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches of Germany, the reader may usefully consult, "_The
State of the Protestant Religion in Germany, in a series of Discourses
preached before the University of Cambridge, by the Rev. Hugh James
Rose, M.A. 8vo. 1825_;" and "_Entretiens Philosophiques sur la Re-union
des differens communions chretiens, par feu M. le Baron Starck, Ministre
Protestant, et premier predicateur, de la Cour de Hesse Darmstadt, &c.
8vo. 1818_;" and "_Tabaraud's Histoire des Re-unions des Chretiens._"]

[Footnote 046: Tom. XLVI. Art. 12. p. 208.]

[Footnote 047: Page 283.]

[Footnote 048: Page 284, 285.]

[Footnote 049: Page 286.]

[Footnote 050: Page 287.]

[Footnote 051: Page 288.]

[Footnote 052: Page 288.]

[Footnote 053: Page 291.]

[Footnote 054: Page 292.]

[Footnote 055: Page 293.]

[Footnote 056: Page 294.]

[Footnote 057: Page 296.]

[Footnote 058: Page 298.]

[Footnote 059: Page 299.]

[Footnote 060: Page 300. M. Le Clerc, (_Sentimens de quelques
Theologiens de Hollande, dix-septieme Lettre_) defends Grotius with
great ability against the charge of Socinianism: he justly observes,
that, his abstaining from unpleasing propositions, his silence on
offensive doctrines, and his conciliating expressions, should not too
easily be accounted proofs, of belief of his precise sentiments of any
particular tenets. Grotius, says Le Clerc, was like an arbitrator, who,
to bring to amity the parties in difference, recommends to each, that he
should give something of what he himself considers to be his strict
right.]

[Footnote 061: Ep. 363. p. 364]

[Footnote 062: Ep. 491. p. 195.]

[Footnote 063: Ep. 494. p. 896.]

[Footnote 064: Ep. 1706. p. 736.]

[Footnote 065: _Comparison of Calvinism and Arminianism_. vol. ii. p.
560.]

[Footnote 066: Ib. Vol. ii. p. 609.]

[Footnote 067: Ep. 1538. p. 573, 690, 926.]

[Footnote 068: Ep. 528. p. 400.]

[Footnote 069: "Those," says Mr. James Nichols,[070]

"who wish to behold the praises to which HUGO GROTIUS or HUGH DE
GROOT, is justly entitled, and which he has received in ample
measure from admiring friends and reluctant foes, may consult SIR
THOMAS POPE BLOUNT's _Censura celebriorum Authorum_. His well
earned reputation is founded on too durable a basis to be moved by
such petty attacks as those to which I have alluded in a previous
part of this introduction (p. xxi.), or those of Mr. Orme in page
641.

"That a man so accomplished, virtuous, fearless, and unfortunate,
should have had many enemies, among his contemporaries, is not
wonderful. But the number of those who evinced their hatred to him,
or to his philanthropic labours, increased after his decease, when
they could display it with impunity. 'This very pious, learned, and
judicious man,' says Dr. Hammond, 'hath of late, among many, fallen
under a very unhappy fate, being most unjustly calumniated,
sometimes as a SOCINIAN, sometimes as a PAPIST, and, as if he had
learnt to reconcile contradictions, sometimes _as both of them
together._'

"One cause of the Charge of SOCINIANISM being preferred against him,
has been already mentioned, (p. xxxiii.) and it is more fully
explained in pages 637, 642. The reader will not require many
additional reasons to convince him of the untenable ground for such
an accusation, when he is told that VOETIUS, one of the most
violent of his enemies, laid down this grand axiom--'To place the
principal part of religion in an _observance of Christ's commands
is_ RANK SOCIANISM!' To such a _practical observance of the_
requisitions of the Gospel, by what name soever it might be
stigmatized, Grotius pleaded guilty. He says (p. 637) 'I perceive
this was accounted the principal part of religion by the Christians
of the primitive ages; and their various assemblies, divines, and
martyrs taught, 'that the doctrines _necessary to be known_ are
exceedingly few, but that God forms his estimate of us from the
purpose and intention of an obedient spirit.' I am likewise of the
same opinion, and shall never repent of having maintained it.'

"But as the charge of POPERY is of the utmost consequence, I have
discussed this topic at great length, (pp. 566, 746), and have
proved (pp. 549, 561), that Grotius was as little attached to the
principles or the practice of the Romish church as the most zealous
of his accusers. Whatever tends to vindicate the conduct of Grotius
in this matter, will operate still more powerfully in favour of
Archbishop Laud. The design of Grotius is well described by Dr.
Hammond, in a _Digression_ which he added to his _Answer_ to the
_Animadversions on his Dissertations_; in which he says,

"'For the charge of Popery that is fallen upon him, it is evident
from whence that flows,--either from his _profest opposition to
many doctrines of some Reformers, Zuinglius and Calvin, &c_. or
from his _Annotations on Cassander, and the Debates with Rivet
consequent thereto, the Votum pro pace and Discussio_.'

"For the former of these, it is sufficiently known what contests
there were, and at length how profest the divisions betwixt the
Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants; and it is confessed that he
maintained (all his time) the Remonstrants party, vindicating it
from all charge, whether of Pelagianism or Semi-Pelagianism, which
was by the opposers objected to it, and pressing the favourers of
the doctrine of Irrespective Decrees with the odious consequences
of making God the _author and favourer of sin_, and frequently
expressing his sense of the evil influences that some of those
doctrines were experimented to have on men's lives. And by these
means it is not strange that he should fall under great displeasure
from those who, having espoused the opinion of Irrespective
Decrees, did not only publish it as the THE TRUTH and TRUTH OF GOD,
but farther asserted the questioning of it to be injurious to God's
free grace and his Eternal Election, and consequently retained no
ordinary patience for or charity to opposers. But, then, still this
is no medium to to infer that charge. The doctrines which he thus
maintained were neither branches nor characters of Popery, but
asserted by some of the first and most learned and pious Reformers.
Witness the writings of Hemingius in his _Opuscula_, most of which
are on these subjects. Whereas on the contrary side, Zuinglius and
others, who maintained the rigid way of Irrespective Decrees, and
infused them into some of this nation of ours, are truly said, by
an excellent writer of ours, Dr. Jackson, to _have had it first
from some ancient Romish Schoolmen_, and so to have had as much or
more of that guilt adherent to them, as can be charged on their
opposers. So that from hence to found the jealousy, to affirm him a
papist because he was not a contra-remonstrant, is but the old
method of speaking all that is ill of those who differ from our
opinions on any thing; as the Dutchman in his rage calls his horse
an ARMINIAN, because he doth not not go as he would have him. And
this is all that can soberly be concluded from such suggestions,
that they are displeased and passionate that thus speak.

"As for the _Annotations on Cassander_, &c. and the consequent
vindications of himself against _Rivet_, those have with some
colour been deemed more favourable toward Popery; but yet I suppose
will be capable of benign interpretations, if they be read with
these few cautions or remembrances:

"_First_. That they were designed to shew a way to peace whensoever
men's minds on both sides should be piously affected to it.

"_Secondly_. That he did not hope for this temper in his age, the
humour on both sides being so turgent, and extremely contrary to
it, and the controversy debated on both sides by those 'who,' saith
he, '_desire to eternize, and not to compose contentions_,' and
therefore makes his appeal to posterity, when this paroxysm shall
be over.

"_Thirdly_. That for the chief usurpations of the papacy; he leaves
it to Christian princes to join together to vindicate their own
rights, and reduce the Pope _ad Canones_, to that temper, which the
ancient canons allow and require of him; and if that will not be
done, to reform every one in their own dominions.

"_Fourthly_. That what he saith in favour of some Popish doctrines,
above what some other learned Protestants have said, is not so much
by way of _assertion_ or _justification_ of them, as to shew what
reasons they may justly be thought to proceed upon, and so not to
be go irrational or impious as they are ordinarily accounted; and
this only in order to the peace of the christian world, that we may
have as much charity to others and not as high animosities, live
with all men as sweetly and amicably, and peaceably, and not as
bitterly as is possible, accounting the wars and seditions, and
divisions and rebellions, that are raised and managed upon the
account of religion, far greater and more scandalous unchristian
evils, than are the errors of some Romish doctrines, especially as
they are maintained by the more sober and moderate men among them,
Cassander, Picherel, &c.

"_Fifthly_. What he saith in his _Discussio_, of a conjunction of
Protestants with those that adhere to the Bishop of Rome, is no
farther to be extended, than his words extend it. That there is not
any other visible way to the end there mentioned by him, of
acquiring or preserving universal unity. That this is to be done,
not crudely, by returning to them as they are, submitting our necks
to our former yokes, but by taking away at once the division, and
the causes of it, on which side soever; adding only in the third
place, that the bare primacy of the Bishop of Rome, _secundum
Canones_, such as the ancient canons allow of, (which hath nothing
of _supreme universal power_, or authority in it,) is none of those
causes, nor consequently necessary to be excluded in the [Greek:
diallaktikon], citing that as the confession of that excellent
person Philip Melancthon. So that in effect, that whole speech of
his which is so solemnly vouched by Mr. Knott, and looked on so
jealously by many of us, is no more than this, 'that such a Primacy
of the Bishop of Rome, as the ancient canons allowed him, were, for
so glorious an end as is the regaining the peace of christendom,
very reasonably to be afforded him, nay absolutely necessary to be
yielded him, whensoever any such catholic union shall be attempted,
which as it had been the express opinion of Melancthon, one of the
first and wisest Reformers, so it is far from any design of
establishing the usurpations of the Papacy, or any of their false
doctrines attending them, but only designed as an expedient for the
restoring the peace of the whole christian world, which every
disciple of Christ is so passionately required to contend and pray
for.'

"At the conclusion of the Doctor's _Continuation of the Defence of_ HUGO
GROTIUS, he thus expresses himself:

"'As this is an act of mere justice and charity to the dead,--and no
less to those who, by their sin of uncharitable thoughts towards
him, are likely to deprive themselves of the benefit of his
labours,--so is it but a proportionable return of debt and
gratitude to the signal value and kindness, which in his lifetime,
he constantly professed to pay to this church and nation,
expressing his opinion, "that of all churches in the world, it was
the most careful observer and transcriber of primitive antiquity,"
and more than intimating his desire to end his days in the bosom
and communion of our mother. Of this I want not store of witnesses,
which from time to time have heard it from his own mouth whilst he
was ambassador in France, and even in his return to Sweden,
immediately before his death; and for a real evidence of this
truth, it is no news to many, that, at the taking his journey from
Paris, he appointed his wife, whom he left behind, to resort to the
English Assembly at the Agent's house, which accordingly she is
known to have practised.'"]

[Footnote 070: Calvinism and Arminianism compared, Introduction,
cxxxii.]

[Footnote 071: A dialogue on the Reformation was also in the
contemplation of Mr. Gibbon: "I have," he says in the Memoirs of his
life and writings,[072] "sometimes thought of writing a dialogue of the
dead, in which Luther, Erasmus and Voltaire should mutually acknowledge
the danger of exposing an old superstition to the contempt of the blind
and fanatic multitude."]

[Footnote 072: Vol. i. p. 269, of the 8vo. edition of his works.]

[Footnote 073: A full account of the writings of _Wicelius_, and of his
projects of Pacification, is given by _Father Simon_ in the _Biblioteque
Critique, par M. de Sainjore_, Tom. ii. ch. 18. He concludes it, by
observing, that

"the great love which Wicelius had for the peace of the church,
might induce him to use expressions, somewhat harsh, but which
really ought not to be censured with too much rigour. It is evident
that his only view was to be useful to persons of his own time, to
whom he consecrated the latter part of his life.--I do not
recollect to have read that he was censured at Rome, and the
Spanish Inquisitors seem to have observed the same moderation in
his regard."]

[Footnote 074: XVI. Cent. Book V. p. 41, in the Englsh translation.]

[Footnote 075: See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Cent. XVII. ch. ii.
sect. ii. Part II.]

[Footnote 076: Eccles. Hist. Cent. XVI. ch. ii. sect. iii. Part. II.]

[Footnote 077: Observat. Hallen, 15 t. p. 341.]

[Footnote 078: It is a prayer addressed to Jesus Christ, and suited to
the condition of a dying person who builds his hope on the Mediator. _M.
Le Clerc_ has inserted it at length in the _Sentimens de quelques
Theologiens de Hollande_, 17 Lettre, p. 397.]

[Footnote 079: Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, 2d Vol. p. 502. 2d
Edition.]

[Footnote 080: The author's "Confessions of Faith," mention this
convention, its dissolution, and the subsequent union of the Helvetian,
and Bohemian protestant congregations, in the Synods, held at Astrog, in
the years 1620, and 1627. The original settlement of these churches, was
in Bohemia, and Moravia. Persecution scattered the members of them: a
considerable number of the fugitives, settled at Herrenhut, a village in
Lusatia. There, under the protection and guidance of Count Zinzendorf,
they formed themselves into a new community, which was designed to
comprehend their actual and future congregations, under the title of
"_The Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren of the
Confession of Augsburgh_." That Confession is their only symbolic book;
but they profess great esteem for the eighteen first chapters of the
Synodical Document of the church of Berne in 1532, as a declaration of
true Christian Doctrine. They also respect, the writings of Count
Zinzendorf, but do not consider themselves, bound by any opinion,
sentiment, or expression, which these contain. It is acknowledged, that,
towards the middle of the last century, they used in their devotional
exercises, particularly in their hymns, many expressions justly
censurable: but these have been corrected. They consider Lutherans and
Calvinists, to be their brethren in faith, as according with them in the
essential articles of religion; and therefore, when any of their members
reside at a distance from a congregation of the United Brethren, they
not only attend a Lutheran, or Calvinist church, but receive the
Sacrament, from its ministers, without scruple. In this, they profess to
act in conformity to the Convention at Sendomer. The union, which
prevails both among the congregations, and the individuals which compose
them, their modest and humble carriage, their moderation in lucrative
pursuits, the simplicity of their manners, their laborious industry,
their frugal habits, their ardent but mild piety, and their regular
discharge of all their spiritual observances, are universally
acknowledged and admired. Their charities are boundless, their kindness
to their poor brethren is most edifying; there is not among them a
beggar. The care, which they bestow, on the education of their children,
in forming their minds, chastening their hearts, and curbing their
imaginations,--particularly in those years,

"When youth, elate and gay,
Steps into life and follows, unrestrained,
Where passion leads, or reason points the way." _Lowth._

are universally acknowledged, universally admired, and deserve universal
imitation.

But, it is principally, by the extent and success of their missionary
labours, that they now engage, the attention of the public. These began,
in 1732. In 1812, they had thirty-three settlements, in heathen nations.
One hundred and thirty-seven missionaries, were employed in them: they
had baptized, twenty-seven thousand, four hundred converts: and such had
been their care, in admitting them to that sacred rite, and such their
assiduity, in cultivating a spirit of religion, among them, that
scarcely an individual, had been known, to relapse into paganism. All
travellers, who have visited their settlements, speak with wonder, and
praise, of the humility, the patient endurance of privation, and
hardship, the affectionate zeal, the mild, and persevering exertions of
the missionaries; and the innocence, industry and piety of the
converts:--the European, the American, the African, and the Asiatic
traveller speaks of them, in the same terms: and, that they speak
without exaggeration, the conduct both of the pastor, and the flock in
the different settlements of the United Brethren in England,
incontestibly proves. Whatever he may think of their religious tenets,
_Talis cum sitis, utinam nostri essetis_, must be the exclamation of
every christian, who considers their lives. Those, who desire further
knowledge of this amiable, and worthy denomination of Christians, will
find it in _David Cranz's ancient and modern History of the Brethren,
printed at Barby, 1771, and the two continuations of it, Barby_, 1791,
and 1804. The History has been translated into English; and is become
exceedingly scarce; the Continuations have not been translated. Mr. La
Trobe, the Pastor of the United Brethren in London, has published a
_Concise Historical Account of the Protestant Church of the United
Brethren adhering to the Confession of Augsburgh_.]

[Footnote 081: Epist. 1706, p. 736.]

[Footnote 082: Ib. Epist. 613.]

[Footnote 083: Epist. part. I. Epist. 432. part II. Epist. 53. The
French public strongly suspected the Cardinal of this design. It gave
rise to the celebrated libel, entitled "_Optatus Gallus,_" _Grotius_,
(Lit. 982.) notices a prophecy of Nostradamus, then in circulation:

"_Celui qui etait bien avant dans le regne,
Ayant chat rouge, proche, hierarchie,
Apre et cruel, et se fera tant craindre,
Succedera, a sacree Monarchie._"

If the event in question had happened, Nostradamus would have passed,
with many for a prophet.]

[Footnote 084: Eclaircissemens de l'edit de Nantes, page 1. c. 6.]

[Footnote 085: V. 2. p. 38, 148.]

[Footnote 086: We are grieved to add, that he allowed the _right_ of a
sovereign to persecute for religion.]

[Footnote 087: This article is extracted from Oeuvres Posthumes de
Bossuet, vol. i. Nouvelle edition des Oeuvres de Bossuet, vol. ii.
Leibnizii Opera, studio Ludovici Dutens, vol. i. and v. And the Pensees
de Leibniz, vol. ii. 8vo.]

[Footnote 088: Tom. xiii.]

[Footnote 089: See the Appendix to the Sermons of Dr. Jebb, the present
excellent Bishop of Limerick.--Cadel, 1824.]

* * * * *

Luke Hansard & Sons,
near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, London.

* * * * *

By the same Author,

THE LIFE OF ERASMUS:

WITH

HISTORICAL REMARKS ON THE STATE OF LITERATURE BETWEEN THE TENTH AND
SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.

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