341 



ARMINIUS, JACOBUS. 



ARMINIUS, JACOBUS. 



342 



painful ; and to bodily pain was added mental anguish at the misre- 

 presentations, as he deemed them, of his religious opinions. Seven 

 sons and two daughters survived him. The curators of the University 

 of Leydeu allowed his wife and children a pension. 



In 1610 the followers of Arminius, who had become numerous, pre- 

 sented a petition to the States of Holland and West Friesland, which 

 was called a 'Remonstrance.' They were named Remonstrants in 

 consequence ; and as the Calvinists presented a ' Counter-Remon- 

 strance,' they were called Contra-Remonstranta. After the death of 

 Armmius the controversy between his disciples and their opponents 

 raged more fiercely. Attempts were made by the authorities to recon- 

 cile the two contending parties, by a conference between tbem at the 

 Hague in 1611, a discussion at Delft in 1613, and also by an edict in 

 1614, enjoining peace. At last the States-General issued an order for 

 the assembling of a National Synod. It met at Dort, in Holland, and 

 opened on November 13th, 1618, and its sittings continued through that 

 and the following year. This famous Synod condemned entirely ' five 

 Articles' in which the Arminians expressed their opinions. These 

 articles had been drawn up in 1610, presented in the conference at the 

 Hague in 1611, and finally laid before the Synod of Dort. To fix the 

 sense of the passages in the Scriptures which related to the dispute, a 

 new Dutch translation of the whole Bible, from the original Hebrew 

 and Greek, was undertaken at the command of the synod. This new 

 version was published in 1637. The Arminians being dissatisfied with 

 the version of the New Testament, made another version of the New 

 Testament from the Greek, which was published at Amsterdam in 

 1680. The Arminians were subjected to severe penalties. They were 

 all deprived of their sacred and civil offices, and their ministers were 

 forbidden to preach. Many retired to Antwerp and France : a con- 

 siderable body emigrated to Holstein, upon the invitation of Friede- 

 ricli, duke of Holstein, and built the town of Frederickstadt in the 

 duchy of Schleswig. After the death of Maurice in 1625, the Armi- 

 nians were allowed to return by his brother and successor, Friederich 

 Heinrich. The exiles from France and the Spanish Netherlands came 

 back and established congregations in various places, particularly at 

 Rotterdam and Amsterdam. At Amsterdam they founded a school, 

 in which Simon Episcupius was the first professor of theology. 



The works of Arminius show that his followers expressed his senti- 

 ments on the points of predestination and grace in the famous Five 

 Articles. These articles are drawn up almost entirely in words which 

 may be found in his writings. The following is a literal translation 

 of them : 



1. God, by an eternal and immutable decree ordained in Jesus 

 Christ, his Son, before the foundation of the world to save in Christ, 

 because of Christ, and through Christ, from out of the human race, 

 which is fallen aud subject to sin, those who by the grace of the 

 Holy Spirit believe in the same his Son, and who by the same grace 

 persevere unto the end in that faith and the obedience of faith ; but, 

 on the contrary, to leave in sin and subject to wrath those who are 

 not converted and are unbelieving, and to condemn them as aliens 

 from Christ, according to the Gospel, John hi. 36. 2. To which end 

 Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all and each one, so 

 that he has gained for all, through the death of Christ, reconciliation 

 and remission of sins; on this condition however, that no one in 

 reality enjoys that remission of sins except the faithful man, and this, 

 too, according to the Gospel, John iii. 16, and 1 John ii. 2. 3. But 

 man has not from himself, or by the power of his free will, saving 

 faith, inasmuch as in the state of defection and sin he cannot think 

 or do of himself anything good, which is, indeed, really good, such as 

 saving faith is; but it is necessary for him to be born again and 

 renewed by God in Christ through his Holy Spirit, hi his mind, affec- 

 tions or will, and all his faculties, so that he may be able to under- 

 stand, think, wish, aud perform something good, according to that 

 saying of Christ in John xv. 5. 4. It is this grace of God which 

 begins, promotes, and perfects everything good, and this to such a 

 decree that even the regenerate man without this preceding or adven- 

 titious grace, exciting, consequent, and co-operating, can neither think, 

 wish, or do anything good, nor even resist any evil temptation : so 

 that all the good works which we can think of are to be attributed to 

 the grace of God in Christ. But as to the manner of the operation 

 ofthut grace, it is not irresistible, for it is said of many that they 

 resisted the Holy Spirit, in Acts vii. 51, and many other places. 5. 

 Those who are grafted into Christ by a true faith, and therefore par- 

 take of his vivifying Spirit, have abundance of means by which they 

 may fight against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and obtain 

 the victory, always however by the aid of the grace of the Holy 

 Spirit ; Jesus Christ assists them by his Spirit in all temptations, and 

 stretches out his hand ; and provided they are ready for the contest, 

 and seek his aid, and are not wanting to their duty, he strengthens 

 them to such a degree that they cannot be sed uced or snatched from 

 the hands of Christ by any fraud of Satan or violence, according to 

 that saying, John x. 23. " No one shall pluck them out of my hand." 

 But whether these very perrons cannot by their own negligence desert 

 the commencement of their being in Christ, and embrace again the 

 present world, fall back from the holy doctrine once committed to 

 Ux'tn, maKe shipwreck of their conscience, aud fall from grace; this 

 must be more fully examined aud weighed by the Holy Scripture, 

 before men can teach it with full tranquillity of mind and confidence. 



The last proposition the Arminians afterwards so completely modi- 

 fied as to assert explicitly that it is possible for a true believer to lose 

 his faith and fall from grace. The Arminians at first explained these 

 five propositions, in such manner that they taught the Lutheran 

 doctrine. But their adversaries asserted that they were Pelagians and 

 Socinians at heart. It cannot be denied that, after the Synod of Dort, 

 the chief Arminian teachers gave these propositions such an interpre- 

 tation that they seemed to differ very little from those who say that 

 men do not require divine aid to be converted and lead a holy life ; 

 and some of their teachers, undoubtedly, iucline towards Socinianism. 



Up to the time of the Synod of Dort these five points alone consti- 

 tuted the differences between the Arminiaus and the Calvinists. After 

 the Synod of Dort, Arminianism became a very indefinite thing, aud 

 the Arminians had no system of theology. They point to the ' Con- 

 fession,' which was drawn up by Episcopius, as their formula and rule 

 of faith : but it is capable of various interpretations, aud their several 

 teachers interpret it in different ways; nor are they bound down to it 

 by any oath or promise. The only doctrine to which the Arminians 

 have adhered throughout is this that the merits of the Saviour extend 

 to every one, and that none perish by any fixed and inevitable decreo 

 of God, but all by their own fault. But even this doctrine of the 

 universal love of God to man is variously explained by their different 

 doctors. On other, and the most weighty, doctrines of Christianity, 

 their teachers advance very different opinions. The great object which 

 the Arminians openly professed after the time of the Synod of Dort, 

 was to unite into one family the various bodies of Christians, except- 

 ing the Roman Catholics, however they may differ in points of doctriuo 

 or church government. With this view the leading principle which 

 they laid down is that very few things are necessary to be believed 

 for salvation ; and that every one may think as he pleases cuncerniug 

 God and religion, provided he lives a pious and virtuous life. Some 

 suppose that the Apostles' Creed is the test which they offer for com- 

 munion; but "they are mistaken," says John le Clerc, one of the 

 most distinguished among the Arminians ; " the Arminians offer com- 

 munion to all who receive the Holy Scripture as the sole rule of faith 

 aud manners, and who are neither idolators nor persecutors." (' Biblio- 

 theque Ancienne et Moderne," torn. xxv. p. 119.) The Arminians 

 excluded the Roman Catholics from their communion, because they 

 held the Roman Catholics to be persecutor's. 



The man who drew up this system, and who was the greatest 

 Arminian teacher, was Simon Episcopius. But that the aim of 

 Arminius was to unite all sects of Christians, with the exception of 

 Roman Catholics, into one community, is manifest from a passage in 

 his will, where he says, " I have studied to inculcate everything which 

 might contribute, according to the word of God, to the propagation 

 and increase of truth, of the Christian religion, of the true worship 

 of God, of general piety, and a holy conversation among men ; and 

 finally, to that tranquillity and peace which befit the Christian name, 

 excluding Papacy, with which no unity of faith, no bond of piety, or 

 of Christian peace can be maintained." His enemies allowed that bis 

 life was irreproachable. He fasted frequently. His motto was, " A 

 good conscience is Paradise." 



The works of Arminius do not show any great knowledge of the 

 Fathers or ecclesiastical antiquity ; but they contain evidence of a 

 clear and vigorous mind. His manner is exceedingly methodical and 

 rather scholastic, but his style is characterised by that simplicity and 

 clearness which his followers have always regarded as one of the 

 chief excellencies of a theologian. No rhetorical ornaments are to bo 

 found in the sermons, academical discourses, and treatises of Arminius. 

 Arminius either could not use them, or he considered them incon- 

 sistent with the simplicity of the Gospel. He was acquainted with 

 Hebrew and the Oriental languages, which he considered of great 

 importance for a theologian. He also wrote Latin verse. To obtain 

 a knowledge of his theological views, ' Disputationes Publicso et 

 Privates ' should be particularly consulted. The opinion of Arminius 

 as to the divinity of Christ was, that he was aM 0eos, if that word was 

 understood to mean 'true and real God,' but not if it meant ' God of 

 himself.' This last opinion, he says, was contrary to Scripture aud to 

 antiquity, which taught that the divinity of the Son was derived from 

 the Father by eternal generation. He always repudiated all charges 

 of Pelagianism and Socinianism. 



The earliest authority for the Life of Arminius is Petrus Bertius, 

 ' De Vita et Obitu J. A r mini i Oratio.' The fullest and most accurate 

 account is given by Caspar Brandt, a minister of the church of tho 

 Remonstrants at Amsterdam, in his ' Historia Vitas J. Arminii," 

 Amsterdam, 1724, 8vo., a posthumous work, which was published by 

 Gerhard Brandt, the historian, who was the son of Caspar. It was 

 republished, with a preface and some notes by the historian Mosheim, 

 Brunswick, 1725, 8vo. The chief historians of the whole controversy 

 between the Arminians and Calvinists are as follows. The Arminiau 

 writers are Gerhard Brandt, ' Historie dor Reformatie," &c., which is 

 the most copious account extant, and of which there are many epi- 

 tomes in English and French; Phil. Limboruh, 'Historia Vitse Sim. 

 Episcopii,' Amsterdam, 1701, 8vo., and ' Relatio Historica de Origine 

 et Progressu Controversiarura in Fcederato Belgio de Prsedestina- 

 tione,' &c., which last work is subjoined to the later editions of his 

 ' Theologia Christiana;' Joannes Uyttenbogaert, ' Kerckelijcke His- 

 torie,' &o., p. 1071, &c., Rotterdam, 1647, fol. On the Calvinistic side 



