the character and conduct of Arminius, than VANI ORBIS AMICUS, which Bertius has quoted in the text.

6

In connection with this subject, the subjoined "right merry story" occurs in HEYLIN'S Life of Archbishop Laud:-"That the other sex might whet their tongues upon him also, the Lady Davies, the widow of Sir John Davies, Attorney-General for King James in the realm of Ireland, scatters a prophecy against him. This Lady had before spoken something unluckily of the Duke of Buckingham, importing, that he should not live till the end of August,' which raised her to the reputation of a cunning woman amongst the ignorant people:And now she prophesies of the new Archbishop, That he should live but few days after the fifth of November;' for which, and other prophecies of a more mischievous nature she was after brought into the Court of High-Commission; the woman being grown so mad, that she fancied the spirit of the Prophet Daniel to have been infused into her body: And this she grounded on an Anagram which she made of her name, viz. ELEANOR DAVIES, REVEAL O DANIEL: And though the Anagram had too much by an L, and too little by an S; yet she found Daniel and Reveal in it, and that served her turn. Much pains was taken by the Court to dispossess her of this spirit; but all would not do, till Lamb, then Dean of the Arches, shot her through and through, with an arrow borrowed from her own quiver: For whilst the Bishops and Divines were reasoning the point with her out of Hoiy Scripture, he took a pen into his hand, and at last hit upon this excellent Anagram, viz. DAME ELEANOR DAVIES, NEVER SO MAD A LADIE:' Which having proved to be true by the rules of art, Madam,' said he, I see you build much on Anagrams, and I have found out one which I hope will fit you: This said, and reading it aloud, put it into her hands in writing, which happy fancy brought that grave Court into such a laughter, and the poor woman thereupon into such a confusion, that afterwards she grew either wiser, or was less regarded. This ended as successfully as he could desire."

he

6

Z.-Page 46.

6

This extract from the last Will and Testament of Arminius, which shews at once his general philanthropy and his particular hatred of Popery, as a perversion of Christianity, has been animadverted upon in a manner the most unaccountable by Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History. I had prepared a few remarks on this subject before I saw the very able and

VOL. I.

* X

spirited article on ARMINIANISM in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, from which I make the following judicious and elucidatory

extract:

"But the most eminent of those who became Arminians, or who ranked among the professed followers of Arminius, soon adopted views of the corruption of man, of justification, of the righteousness of Christ, of the nature of faith, of the province of good works, and of the necessity and operations of grace, that are quite contrary to those which he had entertained and published: Many of them, in process of time, differed more or less from one another, on some or all of these points. Even the Confession of Faith, which was drawn out for the Arminians by Episcopius, and is to be found in the second volume of his Works, cannot be referred to as a standard: It was composed merely to counteract the reproach of their being a society without any common principles. It is expressed chiefly in the words and phrases of scripture, to which, of course, every one would annex his own meaning. Besides, no person, not even a pastor, was obliged, by any form, to adhere strictly to it; but every one was left entirely at liberty to interpret its language in the manner that was most agreeable to his own private sentiments. Accordingly, so various and inconsistent are their opinions, that could Arminius peruse the unnumbered volumes which have been written as expositions and illustrations of Arminian doctrine, he would be at a loss to discover his own simple system, amidst that heterogeneous mass of error with which it has been rudely mixed; and would be astonished to find, that the controversy which he had unfortunately, but conscientiously, introduced, had wandered far from the point to which he had confined it, and that with his name dogmas were associated, the unscriptural and dangerous nature of which he had pointed out and condemned.

"At the same time, it must be acknowledged, that of this state of things, by which his memory is injured and thoughtless people are deceived, he himself laid the foundation. The same temper of mind which led him to renounce the peculiarities of Calvinism, induced him also to adopt more enlarged and liberal views of church communion than those which had hitherto prevailed. While he maintained that the mercy of God is not confined to a chosen few, he conceived it to be quite inconsistent with the genius of Christianity, that men of that religion should keep at a distance from each other, and constitute separate churches, merely because they differed in their opinions as to some of its doctrinal articles. He thought that Christians of all denominations should form one great community, united and

upheld by the bonds of charity and brotherly love; with the exception, however, of Roman Catholics, who, on account of their idolatrous worship and persecuting spirit, must be unfit members of such a society, That this was not only agreeable to the wishes of Arminius, but one chief object of his labours, is evident from a passage in his last will, which he made a little before his death: Ea proposui et docui quæ, &c.-All the doc'trines advanced by me, have been such as might conduce to 'the propagation and increase of the truth of the Christian Religion, of the true worship of God, of general piety, and of a holy conversation among men,-and such as might contribute, according to the word of God, to a state of tranquillity ' and peace well befitting the Christian name; and that from these benefits I have excluded the Papacy, with which no unity of 'faith, no bond of piety or of Christian peace can be preserved.' "Mosheim has stated this circumstance in a note to his history of the Arminian Church; but his statement, or rather the conclusion which he deduces from it, is evidently unfair and incorrect. He alleges, that Arminius had actually laid the plan of that theological system, which was afterwards embraced by his followers; that he had inculcated the main and leading principles of it on the minds of his disciples; and that Episcopius and others, who rejected Calvinism in more points than in that which related to the divine decrees, only propagated, with greater courage and perspicuity, the doctrines which Arminianism, as taught by its founder, already contained. These allegations, it is clear, have no sort of connection with the passage from which

"It is a common opinion, that the ancient Arminians, who flourished before the Synod of Dort, were much more sound in their opinions, and strict in their morals, than those who have lived after this period; that Arminius himself only rejected the Calvinistical doctrine of absolute decrees, and what he took to be its immediate consequences, adopting in all other points the doctrines received in the Reformed Churches: But that his disciples, and more especially Episcopius, had boldly transgressed the bounds that had been wisely prescribed by their master, and had gone over to the Pelagians, and even to the Socinians. Such, I say, is the opinion commonly entertained concerning this matter. But it appears, on the contrary, evident to me, that Arminius himself had laid the plan of that theological system, that was, in after times, embraced by his followers, and that he had instilled the main principles of it into the minds of his disciples; and that these latter, and particularly Episcopius, did really no more than bring this plan to a greater degree of perfection, and propagate, with more courage and perspicuity, the doctrines it contained. I have the testimony of Arminius to support this notion, besides many others that might be alleged in its behalf; for, in the last will made by this eminent man, a little before his death, he plainly and positively declares, that the great object he had in view, in all his theological and ministerial labours, was to unite in one community, cemented by the bonds of fraternal charity, all sects and denominations of Christians, the Papists excepted."-Ecclesiastical History.

they are drawn as inferences; and they are wholly inconsistent with the assertions, and reasonings, and declarations of Arminius, when he is discussing the merits of the question that was agitated between him and the Geneva school. Arminius, in addition to the scheme of doctrine which he taught, was anxious to establish this maxim, and to reduce it to practice, that, with the exception above-mentioned, no difference of opinions should prevent Christians from remaining in one church or religious body. He did not mean to insinuate, that a difference of opinion was of no consequence at all; that they who thought one way, were just as right as they who thought a contrary way; or that men have no occasion to be solicitous about the religious tenets which they hold. He did not mean to give up his own system as equally true, or equally false with that of Calvin; and as little could he be supposed to sanction those sentiments of his followers, which were in direct opposition to the sentiments which he himself had maintained. But he endeavoured, in the first place, to assert liberty of conscience, and of worship; and then, upon that fundamental principle, to persuade all Christians, however divided in opinion, to lay aside the distinctions of sect and party, and in one united body to consult that tranquillity and peace which is so agreeable to the Christian name. This we conceive to have been the object of Arminius; an object so indicative of an enlightened mind, so congenial to that charity which hopeth all things, and thinketh no evil, and so conducive to the interests of religion and the peace of the world, as to reflect the highest honour on him by whom it was first pursued, and to constitute the true glory of Armi

nianism.

"From the remarks which we have made, an accurate idea may be formed of that system which is properly entitled Arminianism; and consequently of the justice with which those are called Arminians, who commonly assume that appellation. The confusion which prevails on this subject, has arisen, in a great measure, from not attending to the distinction between holding purely Arminian doctrine, and belonging to the Arminian church. Even a Calvinist, who necessarily rejects the former, may yet be a member of the latter, (though we doubt if there be any instances of this on record;) because according to the views and wishes of Arminius, that church is, exclusively of Papists, the church universal, actually and freely receiving into its bosom Christians of every sect. The number of true Arminians has never, we believe, been very great; but it appears, that almost all who have been called Arminians, have

agreed in being Anti-calvinists, so far as the dogmas respecting unconditional election, particular redemption, and the irresistibility of divine grace, are involved."

A A.-Page 47.

In this Appendix I add, in the words of Brandt, a few particulars concerning Arminius, which were omitted by Bertius.

To those who stood around his death-bed he frequently repeated the 20th and 21st verses of the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, from which he had taken the first of those forms of prayer which are quoted in page 44. Arminius recited this passage of the Sacred Writer with such ardency of mind and fervour of spirit, as fixed it ever afterwards deeply in the memory, and imprinted it on the mind, of the Rev. Bartholomew Prevost, a pupil worthy of such a master, and afterwards Pastor of the Remonstrant Church at Amsterdam. About the same time, too, the very learned Simon Episcopius left Franeker and came into Holland, to perform the last offices of piety to his preceptor: He sedulously remained for some days and nights at the side of the couch of Arminius, with whom he held different conversations on the subject of religion, the state of the Church, the knowledge of the Saviour, and the efficacy of his death and

resurrection.

The eldest of Arminius's nine children was only seventeen years of age when his father died. The names of the two daughters were Gertrude and Angelica: The seven boys were called, Herman, Peter, John, Laurence, James, William, and Daniel. Of these, Laurence became a merchant in the city of Amsterdam; and Daniel exercised the profession of Medicine with the highest reputation:* The rest of the children died in the flower of youth, soon after their father.

When this son, Daniel, was born, (May 2, 1605,) Arminius mentioned the circumstance, at the close of one of his letters to Uitenbogaert, in the following strain of pleasantry :-"But let us turn to more delightful subjects. This morning, half an hour after five o'clock, my wife presented me with a ninth child, and a seventh son in an uninterrupted line, who is a Physician by his very nativity, if any credence may be given to these words of Anthony Ansaldus: It is proved by sure experience, that the infant who in a continual series is born the seventh male, can cure wens and scrophulous affections by his touch alone. This gift, by a certain rare privilege of God, is likewise granted to our Most Christian Kings of France. (Cent. iii, sec. 66.)— But if an unwavering faith be required on the part of the parent, that this gift should be rendered apparent in his son, I have my fears of its accomplishment in my boy. The mother and her child are well; for which blessing I return immortal thanks to God, whom I humbly intreat and beseech to preserve both of them unto me, according to his good pleasure: With these my wishes, I desire you will deign to unite your prayers to the Giver of every good gift. Have the goodness to communicate this my joy to Uytenengius and his wife, that they may offer up intercessions for me and mine."