Brandt next presents his readers with a copious description of THE DECLARATION which Arminius delivered before the States of Holland, on the 30th of October, 1608, and which has received ample illustration between pages 516-668 in this volume.

W-Page 41.

Bertius has described the rapid progress which disease made on the delicate frame of Arminius; and says, "yet he did not discontinue the labours connected with his Lectures and his regular vocation, and never lost an opportunity of advocating his own cause when he deemed it necessary." The younger Brandt, after quoting this sentence, and some others, immediately subjoins:

This was shewn in a very conspicuous manner, at a certain public disputation which was held July 25th, 1609, On the Calling of Men to Salvation. On that occasion Arminius was very animated and lively, and in a strain of great eloquence not only denied that irresistible and necessitating force, which, according to the opinion of some among the Reformed, God Almighty employs in the conversion of men; but he likewise maintained, that the Divine Vocation of men to salvation was exercised thus, -God either supplies men with strength [or power,] or He is ready to bestow it, for the performance of that to which He calls men by his vocation.* He also said, "that he neither could nor durst define the method which the Holy Spirit uses in the conversion and regeneration of man: That, if any one else durst define the mode, the proof would rest with that individual: That he could say how conversion was not effected, that it was not by an irresistible force; but not how it was: That this is known to HIM alone who searches out the deep things of God.”When the opponent asserted, that there was some grace by which men might certainly be converted, and on that founded a

• In Borre's letter, the following very important explanation is added: “This must not be understood as if a man, at the very commencement of his vocation, could instantly perform whatever is required to salvation; but that, by the assistance of Divine Grace which is always ready, it is in his power to perform that to which he is immediately called by his vocation. For instance: When a man is called [by the Spirit of God] to the confession of his sins, he cannot immediately repent of the sins which he has committed, but he can acknowledge them. When he is called to serious grief on account of his sins of commission, he may be affected with that, and may conceive in his spirit true contrition, but he cannot immediately believe in Christ: And thus onwards, by always moving forward from the next lower degrees to those which are higher, till at length, being carried up, he is brought to the last of the divine commands, to the performance of which salvation is promised according to the gospelI do not add any more, since I am writing to a man of understanding."

covenant.

further argument for the necessity of conversion, Arminius embraced that occasion to enter into a long discussion on the Necessity of Infallibility, as the Schoolmen call it [magna cum catechresi] very improperly; and then added, "that the Schoolmen were not to him the rule either of speech or of faith, because they first came into notice at the time when Antichrist was revealed; and because Scholastic Divinity had never become prevalent, except when that which was true and apostolical had been banished."

Almost two full hours had been spent by the two opponents, when, about eleven o'clock, a certain Papist, assuming the name of Adrian Smith, (whom some people supposed to be a Priest, and others a Jesuit,) boldly descended into the arena against Arminius, and by many arguments attacked his sentiments on this subject. While Arminius was engaged in reply to each of them seriatim, the countenance of Gomarus changed colours, and, that he might have the semblance of being only an idle auditor, he occasionally varied his gestures, sometimes scribbling a little, at other times whispering something into the ears of Everard Vorstius, the Professor of Medicine, who sat next to him,-one moment casting his eyes rapidly over the audience, that was very numerous, and the next moment muttering something between his teeth. He appeared desirous of contradicting what was said in the midst of the disputation; but he restrained himself,-though he suffered these or similar expressions to fall from his indignant lips, What impudence is this ?— At the close of the disputation, scarcely had Gomarus passed out of the Divinity Hall when he exclaimed, The reins have been given up to the Papists in fine style, to-day! and presently joining Arminius, he said to him in the presence and within hearing of the Jesuit, that he had never before heard such speeches and disputations, by which the door was so widely opened to the Papists.-Arminius replied, "that he had satisfied his own conscience;" but he denied, that there was "any thing in the disputation which could at all promote the interests of the Papacy."-Gomarus then said, that he would publicly refute what had been advanced. Arminius rejoined, Arminius rejoined, "If any thing be spoken in opposition to my conscience, I promise likewise to give it a public contradiction.-Gomarus promptly declared, I will not be wanting to the cause. Arminius answered, "I also hope, that I shall not be wanting. But we will make an experiment at the proper time; and I am fully persuaded, that the doc

These arguments, and the replies of Arminius, as related in Borre's letter, are highly worthy of perusal.

trine of Irresistible Grace [which had formed a part of the disputation] is repugnant to the Sacred Scriptures, to all the Ancients, and to our own Confession and Catechism."

After holding this disputation, he repaired to Oudewater, his birth-place, for the purpose of recruiting his health; and on the evening of the same day, had there to struggle with a most grievous paroxysm, which once more broke his strength, and distracted the minds of all those who enjoyed the benefit of his society and friendship. The depth of sorrow with which the ill health of his great preceptor, whom he always addressed as his Father, affected Simon Episcopius, who had then gone to Franequer principally for the sake of attending the Lectures of Drusius, he has himself testified, in a letter which he sent to Arminius, immediately after the receipt of the preceding letter from Borre,* and of which the following is an extract :

"Reverend Doctor and most honoured Father, although since my departure I have addressed no letter to you, yet I would not have you believe that this has been occasioned by any forgetfulness of you, or by a supine and ungrateful neglect of your merits. But though my dependence on your singular affection for me, from which I have confidently promised myself many and great things; and, chiefly, through the knowledge which I had, that, beside those serious and important occupations all of which now assail you together and devolve on your head, you are likewise distracted with the distressing pain of a pertinacious disorder; I durst not further distract you, when it was not in my power to elevate your spirits or to afford you entertainment, and I was also unwilling to be troublesome to one who was more than sufficiently afflicted: I therefore thought you would be satisfied with my grateful recollection of you, and by the frequent indications of my affectionate regards, through those to whom I occasionally wrote. I wish, and may God grant, that we might be allowed to recollect you, reverend sir, with pleasure in this most desperate age, to which, through you, God Almighty seems to have manifested some remedy: Oh that He had not merely manifested it! For, what do we now behold? While we are indulging anxious desires, and at the same time

• At the conclusion of Borre's letter to Episcopius, after alluding to the continued indisposition of Arminius, he says: "I am much afraid, that this most excellent light will be taken away from us before the time. But what can be done? We cannot resist God, who wills nothing but what is good, and what is really good to his people. Let us importunately apply to Him in ardent prayer, and add fasting to our supplications, that God may at least not so speedily deprive us of his presence."-There was much of this spirit of ancient piety among the early Dutch Arminians: They justly attri buted great things to the prayer of Faith, especially when united with fasting.

exciting within ourselves the confidence of hope, yet no more agreeable intelligence is conveyed to us, than that your disorder does not abate; but that it continues still obstinate, and that it is irritated by the malignant and choleric actions of some persons, which induce a relapse after the disease had previously seemed to be removed. If you allow it possible for me to ponder over your affairs only for one moment, and to place any value, however inadequate, on both the utility and the necessity of your Lectures, you may easily conceive how afflictive to me must be the tidings of your continued indisposition. I should be very ungrateful, if any day passed by, which did not at frequent intervals admonish and remind me of your malady; the consideration of which does indeed afflict me every day in such a manner, that when it occurs to my mind, a fresh sympathy with the disorder seems to seize and infect me. O that this sympathetic feeling could extend itself so far, as to return you any solace or alleviation! But it will not perhaps be the will of God to bless, by means of you, the men of this unwilling, ungrateful and stubborn age, who are neither desirous to know the things which make for their peace, nor to acknowledge the time of their visitation."

But while fresh controversies had for some time been rising from the Schools to the Pulpit, and had descended even to the markets, the streets, and the porches of houses; and while persons both in high and in low stations occupied themselves in those discussions, and many through ignorance ascribed to Arminius the sentiments of Gomarus, and vice versa; some individual, this year, (1609,) published a Dutch translation of the Theses on Predestination, as they had been defended by each of these Professors some years before, and every one thus had an opportunity of gaining more accurate information on the state of this controversy. The translation of these Theses was soon followed by a Dialogue, the production of R. Donteklok, minister of Delft, in which he asserted, that the opinions of Arminius were in direct opposition to the Reformed doctrine, as received in Holland, and could not be endured in any divine; but that though the opinions of Gomarus, even in his judgment, rose to a greater height than those in common use, yet they were capable of being reconciled together. J. Arnold Corvinus, minister of the Church in Leyden, immediately refuted this Dialogue, in a pamphlet which he published and entitled, A Christian and Serious Admonition to Christian Peace. To this pamphlet also Donteklok soon published a reply. To invalidate the unfair and unfounded rumours with which Arminius was

attacked, his friends, about the same time, translated into the Dutch language and published his Theses On the Providence of God concerning Evil, On Man's Free Will and its Powers, and likewise those On Indulgences and Purgatory which he had written against the Papists. But the union of the Churches was not cemented by these small publications; on the contrary, as discord increased daily from that period, they seem to have operated as oil when it is poured on a fire. In reference to this circumstance, the States of Holland and West Friezland were pleased to command, that a friendly conference should again be held, hetween Gomarus and Arminius, on the points in controversy between them.

A full account of this meeting, connected as it was with the revision of the ecclesiastical formularies, will be found in the GENERAL INTRODUCTION to this Work.

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I had devoted this Appendix to some of the numerous testimonies in favour of Arminius; but, on account of the press of other important materials, I have been compelled to place those testimonies in the Preface to this volume, to which I refer the reader for further information.

Y.Page 44.

The Calvinists of that age were remarkably superstitious with regard to Anagrams on proper names. This perverted taste had its origin among the learned of the early Protestants, who, to discover and demonstrate the Apocalyptic number, (666,) and other equally obscure matters, anagrammatized almost every epithet that had been profanely applied to the Pope or to his dominion. It would have been wonderful indeed, if some of those Anagrams had not appeared exceedingly plausible, when the inventors of them considered themselves at liberty to add or omit a letter of the original name, to suit their purpose. To counteract the prejudice created against the Romish Church by this species of literary warfare, some of the shrewdest amongst the Papists proved its inaptitude and inconclusiveness, by shewing that it might be applied with baneful effect to the titles of our Divine Redeemer, and to other sacred names.

On the principle of fighting the enemies of ARMINIUS with their own weapons, one of his friends, by the addition of H which belonged to his Dutch name, composed this Anagram JACOBUS ARMINIUS, HABUI CURAM SIONIS, "I have had a regard to the welfare of Sion:" This comported much better with

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