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1598.

deed, to such an unlimited extent was charity displayed CHAP. IV. toward all methods of religious belief, that a liberal-minded English statesman, contrasting the narrow sectarianism of his own land with the enlarged Catholic spirit of Holland, could not help declaring that "the universal Church is only there."*

This magnanimous system of toleration remained a constant and remarkable characteristic of the people of the Netherlands, except upon one memorable occasion, when the Dutch forgot, for a space, their cherished maxim. Yet, while religious differences grew warm among the Protestants of Holland, neither Gomarists nor Arminians, in their bitterest strife, thought of shutting the gates of the Low Countries against the persecuted of other lands; and the consequences of that famous theological controversy gave all parties among the Dutch so terrible a warning, that the suggestions of bigotry ever afterward remained unheeded. "It is certain," says De Witt, "that freedom of religion having always been greater in Holland than any where else, it hath brought in many inhabitants, and driven out but few."+

of the

gy.

From the first, the majority of the ministers of the Re- Calvinism formed Dutch Church were Calvinistic. At the earliest Dutch clersynod which the clergy of Holland and Zealand held in 1574, at Dordrecht, upon their own call, and without the approbation of the States of Holland, it was agreed that the Heidelberg Catechism should be taught in all the churches, and that all the ministers should subscribe the Netherland Confession of Faith, and promise obedience to the Classes. The preaching of free will was soon considered to be heresy; it nearly produced a schism at Utrecht, 1593

* Davies, iii., 383; Bishop Hall, vi., 180; Baylie's Dissuasive; Owen Feltham. Andrew Marvell, in his "Character of Holland," has these quaint lines:

"Hence Amsterdam, Turk, Christian, Pagan, Jew,

Staple of sects and mint of schism grew;

That bank of conscience, where not one so strange

Opinion, but finds credit and exchange;

In vain for Catholics ourselves we bear

The universal Church is only there."

+ De Witt, i., 18.

CHAP. IV. which was healed only by the zealous exertions of Uytenbogart and Junius.*

1602.

The Goma

Arminians.

When Jacobus Arminius was recommended for the Prorists and fessorship of Theology at Leyden, made vacant by the death of Junius, in 1602, his appointment was opposed by Franciscus Gomarus, who filled another theological chair, and who hesitated to receive as a colleague a person whose orthodoxy was doubted. The scruples of Gomarus were, however, overcome; and the next year Arminius, upon promising to teach nothing but the "received doctrine” of the Church, became professor. At first his public preaching was unexceptionable; but in private, he attacked some of the prominent points of the established 1604. creed. At length, in the spring of 1604, he openly and boldly set forth doctrines at variance with those of Calvin respecting election and predestination. This aroused the warm opposition of his colleague Gomarus, who published a thesis in which the distinctive tenets of Calvinism were vehemently urged. The strife between the professors soon led to exasperating disputes between their pupils, who, as it often happens, surpassed their teachers in zeal and animosity, as much as they fell short of them in knowledge. The feud extended as the Arminian sentiments spread. The ministers of the churches took the one side or the other; and the controversy, which at first was carried on, in Latin, within the walls of the university, by degrees reached the ears of the people in furious vernacular from the pulpits.†

* Brandt, xi., 554; xiv., 713; xv., 786; Acta Synodi Dord. The form of ecclesiastical government established by the Reformed Church of the Netherlands resembled, in some respects, that of a representative republic. The spiritual and temporal affairs of each congregation were managed by its permanent minister, and by elders and deacons, elected for limited terms of service, by the members of the church. The minister, elders, and deacons formed the "Consistory" or governing council of each congregation. A "Classis" was composed of all the ministers, and of an elder delegated from each consistory within a certain district. It had large original and appellate jurisdiction; it examined and ordained candidates in theology; and, generally, decided in cases of discipline. Superior in authority were the "Synods," which were composed of ministers and elders deputed by the several classes within particular bounds. The supreme power of the Church was vested in a "General Synod," consisting of clerical and lay delegates from the several classes composing the particular synods. This system, substantially, prevails in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in North America.

+ Hist. Synod. Dord., translated by Dr. Scott, 99–106, edit. Philad., 1841. The charge

Another dispute arose, before long, respecting the Hei- CHAP. IV. delberg Catechism and the Confession of Faith, which 1606. had been adopted by the synod held at Dordrecht in 1574. The Gomarists regarded these as unalterable formularies of belief; the Arminians demanded their revision. Things soon came to such a pass that the States of Holland interfered, and appointed a conference between the rival professors, to be held at the Hague, before their Supreme 1608. Council, assisted by four ministers. The meekness of Arminius gained him an advantage in debate over the sterner Gomarus, who injured his cause by violent denunciation. Upon the report of the council, Barneveldt recommended mutual forbearance to the disputants, promising that their differences should be reconciled by a national Synod. Little good, however, followed the conferThe classis of Alckmaer soon afterward resolved, that all the ministers within its jurisdiction should sign a declaration that the Catechism and Confession of Faith agreed, in every particular, with the word of God; and five ministers, who refused to subscribe, were forthwith suspended. The censured ministers appealed to the States of Holland, who required the classis to report its proceedings to them, and meanwhile to vacate its sentence of suspension. But the Synod of North Holland confirmed the action of its subordinate classis, and disregarded the reiterated injunctions of the states.*

ence.

becomes

Thus the dispute finally assumed a political aspect. The dispute The Arminians, acknowledging the right of the civil pow- political. er to decide points of religious doctrine, invoked its pro

of uncharitableness has been made so constantly against Gomarus and his friends, that it is only justice to them to insert an extract from a posthumous tractate of Arminius himself, for the communication of which I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Forsyth, of Princeton. It shows that the synod's friendly overtures were peremptorily rejected by Arminius. "On the 30th of June, 1605, there came to me, at Leyden, three deputies of the Synod of South Holland, and declared, in presence of two deputies from the Synod of North Holland, that the Leyden students, in their examinations for licensure before several of the classes, were observed to give new answers upon some questions, contrary to the doctrines of the Church, and which answers the students declared they had learned from me. They therefore asked me to meet them in a friendly conference, in order to understand what there was in it, and how the thing could be remedied. Hereupon I gave them for answer, that I regarded such an expedient as unfit."-Verclaringhe Jacobi Arminii, p. 2. Leyden, 1610.

* Brandt, xvii., 67-90; Hist. Syn. Dord, 107-138; Davies, ii., 452–460.

1608.

CHAP. IV. tection and support. The Gomarists insisted that ecclesiastical authority belonged, solely and exclusively, to the consistories, the classes, and the synods of the Church. The municipal governments generally, and very naturally, sided with the Arminians, who had thus adroitly flattered them; but the Gomarists, who formed a large majority among the clergy and the people, retained the almost entire control of the judicatories of the Church. Other classes followed the example of that of Alckmaer, and required all their ministers to subscribe to the Catechism and Confession. And now, the truce with Spain having exempted the nation from the dangers of war, those mindst which had been chiefly occupied by the great contest for civil and religious liberty were soon engaged in a vehement conflict on abstruse points of metaphysical theology. Every where the pulpits echoed denunciations against the 1609. Arminians, which even the death of their amiable leader 19 October. did not abate. To relieve themselves from misrepresenta1610. tions of their faith, the Arminians, the next year, present

The Remonstrants.

Interfer

ence of King James.

ed a formal remonstrance to the States of Holland and West Friesland, setting forth the five prominent points of doctrine in which they differed from the Reformed Church, and which soon obtained for them the name that, down to the present day, has distinguished them in Holland, "the Remonstrants.' "'*

The chair of Divinity at Leyden, made vacant by the death of Arminius, was soon proposed to be filled by the appointment of the learned Conrad Vorstius, who, having been suspected of Socinianism, was even more obnoxious than his predecessor. The pedantic King of England, to whom the candidate for the professorship had given great offense by the publication of a theological treatise, could not resist the temptation to meddle as a polemic. He in1611. structed his ambassador, Winwood, to press the States General for the banishment of Vorstius; and even hinted, in a letter to their High Mightinesses, that the "arch her

* Brandt, xviii., 92; xix., 130; Hist. Syn. Dord., 139-154; Davies, ii., 461-463; Mosheim, v., 444, 445.

etic” deserved a crown of martyrdom. The king's perti- CHAP. IV. nacious demands were warmly opposed by Barneveldt, 1611. but strongly supported by Prince Maurice, the stadtholder, who thus conciliated the good-will of James. The States, unwilling to offend their powerful English ally, consented that Vorstius should retire; and Simon Episcopius was appointed in his place.*

and Gro

with the

strants.

The leading statesmen of the Netherlands could not avoid taking part in the religious dispute which, by this time, had begun to distract all ranks of their countrymen. Barneveldt and Grotius, desiring to curb the ambition of Barneveldt the stadtholder by the influence of the towns, naturally tius side sided with the Remonstrants, whose views were generally Remonfavored by the municipal governments. But the clergy, excluded from political office, had generally been in active opposition to the civil authorities; and had always been zealous partisans of the stadtholders. Maurice, remembering this, and knowing that a large majority of the ministers of the Reformed Church were hostile to the tenets of Arminius, naturally sided with the Gomarists.

Maurice

veldt.

From the period of the truce with Spain, the prince had Prince borne ill will against Barneveldt, whose influence in the and Barnegovernments of most of the towns was enough of itself to arouse the jealousy of a less ambitious politician. Soon after the stadtholder's splendid victory over the Spanish forces at Nieuport, some of the wisest patriots of Holland, among whom were Barneveldt and Grotius, began to entertain suspicions that Maurice would endeavor to use his popularity with the army as a means of enabling him to grasp more political power than would be consistent with the liberties of his country. When proposals were soon afterward made for an accommodation with Spain, the advocate, with many other enlightened Dutch statesmen, became as active promoters of a peace as, not long before, they had been ardent supporters of the war. The martial successes of the Dutch had begun to modify their sober

* Winwood's Memorial, iii., 317, 340; Hist. Syn. Dord., 155–182; Davies, ii., 463–467; Neal's Puritans, i., 259, Harpers' edition.

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