Charles Butler

“ The Life of Erasmus, which we have offered to the public, presents to its readers, the interesting spectacle of a person, born under every, disadvantage for the acquisition of literature, surmounting them all by his genius and perseverance, and reaching, at an early age, the highest summit of literary eminence: the Life of GROTIUS, which we now attempt, exhibits the successful literary career of a person, born with every advantage, undeviatingly availing himself of them, and attaining equal eminence ”

“ All the works, which we have mentioned, were most favourably received in every part of the United Provinces. It was now become evident that the exertions for their independence were on the eve of being crowned with complete success. All the European Powers had deserted Spain, so that she was left to her own single and unaided strength, to maintain the contest against the insurgent provinces. The glory, which they acquired by their successful resistance to her, determined them to make choice of an historian, who should transmit to future ages the signal exploits of their memorable struggle. ”

“ In each, he had difficulties to encounter, which extraordinary talents only could surmount. By a strict administration of justice, and severely punishing, without respect to rank or connections, those, who engaged in treasonable practices, he completely subdued the towering spirit of the nobility; by victorious armies and a vigorous dispensation of the laws, he reduced the Hugonots; and, by calling forth all the energies of his country, and arraying half the Continent against Austria and Spain, he gave to France an almost irresistible ascendant in the concerns of Europe. ”

“ It is evident from it, that he thought, the quarrels on Jansenism, had alienated the Jansenists and their adherents, from the Pope, much more, than they had done, in reality. He was willing to concede, to the Pope, a primacy of rank and honour, but would by no means allow him, a primacy of jurisdiction, or any primacy, by divine right. On the other points, he seemed to have thought, that they might come to an agreement, on what they should declare, to be the fundamental doctrine of the churches, and adopt, on every other point of doctrine, a general system, of christian toleration. ”

“ Humanity shudders at the perusal of the events of this war. Through the whole of its long period, Germany was a scene of devastation. In its northern and central parts, the ravages of advancing and retreating armies were repeatedly experienced in their utmost horrors: many of its finest towns were destroyed; whole villages depopulated; large territories laid waste. Frequently the women, the children, and the aged, naked, pale, and disfigured, were seen wandering over the fields, supporting themselves by the leaves of trees, by wild roots, and even grass. ”

“ Embassy of Grotius to the Court of France.
Struck with the scene of woe, St. Vincent of Paul, an humble missionary priest, who, at that time, resided at Paris, requested an audience of Cardinal de Richelieu. Being admitted, he represented to his eminence, with respect, but with firmness, the misery of the people, the sins, and all the other enormities, which are the usual consequences of war: he then fell upon his knees, and in a voice, equally animated by grief and charity, "Sir!" he said to the Cardinal "have mercy upon us! Have compassion upon the world! Give us peace!" ”

“ No system of moral philosophy can surely disregard the general feelings of human nature, and the according judgment of all ages and nations. But, where are these feelings and that judgment recorded and preserved? In those very writings which Grotius is gravely blamed for having quoted. The usages and law of nations, the events of history, the opinions of philosophers, the sentiments of orators and poets, as well as the observation of common life, are, in truth, the materials out of which the science of morality is formed ”

“ From Germany, France, Italy, England and Scotland, numbers crowded to the new academy, and returned from it to their native countries, saturated with the doctrine of Geneva, and burning with zeal to propagate its creed.
Calvin's peculiar doctrine on Predestination and Free-will soon attracted attention, and gave rise to more than a civil war [015] of controversy, [016]
We feel that we are free: if we were not free, conscience could not exist; for, if a man had not freedom of action, conscience could not intimate to him either its approbation or its disapprobation of his actions. ”

“ That natural order undoubtedly dictates, that we should first search for the original principles of the science, in human nature; then apply them to the regulation of the conduct of individuals; and lastly employ them for the decision of those difficult and complicated questions that arise with respect to the intercourse of nations. But Grotius has chosen the reverse of this method. He begins with the consideration of the states of peace and war, and he examines original principles, only occasionally and incidentally, as they grow out of the questions, which he is called upon to decide. ”

“ On the occasion of the marriage of the Princess Christina of Wolfenbuttell, a Lutheran, with the archduke of Austria, her court consulted the faculty of theology of the University of Helmstadt, on the question,
"Whether a Protestant Princess, destined to marry a catholic prince, could, without wounding her conscience, embrace the Roman Catholic religion?" ”

“ THE FEUDS IN THE UNITED PROVINCES BETWEEN THE DISCIPLES OF CALVIN AND THE DISCIPLES OF ARMINIUS, UNTIL THE SYNOD AT DORT.
1610-1617.
It has generally happened, when a people have risen against their sovereign, that their first successes have been followed by divisions among themselves; and that these have endangered, and sometimes even ruined, their cause. Such a division took place, in a remarkable manner, in the conflict between the United Provinces and Spain. No sooner did the arms of the former begin to prosper, and promise ultimate success, than the ARMINIAN CONTROVERSY burst forth. ”

“ He addressed it to the pope, to all sovereigns, bishops, doctors, and generally to all christians, exhorting them to peace, and to desist from contention. He assumed in it, that the true religion had been preserved in the Catholic church; but he allows that modern doctors had involved it in numerous scholastic subtleties, unknown to antiquity. He complains that on one hand the reformers left nothing untouched; that, on the other, the scholastics would retain every abuse, and every superfluity: Wisdom, he thought, lay between them; the reformers should have respected what antiquity consecrated ”

“ While France and Germany continued subject to the same monarch, German was the language of the court, and generally used in every class of society. When the treaty of Verdun divided the territories of Charlemagne, the Romande, or Romançe language, a corruption of the Latin, superseded the German in every part of France: it was insensibly refined into the modern French, but the German continued to be the only language spoken in Germany. ”

“ Chalmers, "all allow that he may be classed among those divines who were afterwards called Latitudinarians." May he not be termed the founder of that splendid school? Perceiving that the minds of men required to be more liberally enlightened, and their affections to be more powerfully engaged on the side of religion than was formerly thought necessary, they set themselves, to use the language of Bishop Burnet, "to raise those who conversed with them to another sort of thoughts, and to consider the Christian religion as a doctrine sent from God, both to elevate and to sweeten human nature. ”

“ The Protestant Churches generally profess to acknowledge no law but the Scriptures, no interpreter of the Scriptures, but the understanding and conscience of the individual who peruses them.
That the Roman Catholic Church should propound a formulary of her faith, enlarge this formulary from time to time, as further interpretation is wanted, and enforce acquiscence in it by spiritual censures, is consistent with her principles. Whether such a pretension can be avowed, without inconsistency, by any Protestant Church, has been a subject of much discussion. ”

“ On that event, they continued Prince William of Orange in the Stadtholderate: he was entitled to it by his civil and military talents. Application, activity, liberality, eloquence, intrepidity, enterprise and discretion, were united in him in an extraordinary degree: he could accommodate himself to all persons and occurrences, accelerate or retard events, as best served the interests of his cause, or his own designs. In the rare talent of governing popular assemblies, and procuring the co-operation of persons of opposite views, he has had few equals. ”

“ The United Provinces were among the latter: the creed of Calvin was, as we have mentioned, one of the fundamental laws of the Union.
The Calvinistic doctrine, that God, from all eternity, consigns one portion of mankind, without any fault on their side, to everlasting torments, shocks our feelings, and is totally repugnant to the notions entertained by us of the goodness and justice of the Deity: it is not therefore surprising that it should be called in question. ”

“ It may appear surprising that Prince Frederick of Orange should pertinaciously exclude Grotius from his native country. But ambition listens to nothing that conflicts with its own views. Prince Frederick inherited from his father and brother the wish of becoming the sovereign of the United Provinces. To this, he knew he should always find a zealous and able opponent in Grotius: hence, notwithstanding his great personal regard for Grotius, he always kept him a banished man. ”

“ More a lawyer than a theologian, more a polite scholar than a philosopher, he throws the doctrine of the immortality of the soul into obscurity. He endeavours to weaken and steal from the church, her most powerful proofs of the divinity of the Son of God, and strives to darken the prophecies, which announce the arrival of the Messiah."
Bossuet proceeds to particularize some of the principal errors of Grotius: Le Clerc replied to the prelate's criticism, by his Sentimens de quelques Theologiens de la Hollande.-Grotius had also an able advocate in Father Simôn. ”

“ Whatever may be the merit of the work of which we are speaking, it must be admitted, that few, on their first appearance, and during a long subsequent period after publication, have received greater or warmer applause. The stores of erudition displayed in it, recommended it to the classical scholar, while the happy application of the author's reading to the affairs of human life, drew to it the attention of common readers. ”

“ Arminius was also accused by his adversaries, of elevating the action of reason in the choice of good, at the expense of grace. To this Arminius replied, by accusing his adversaries of sacrificing reason entirely to grace. But the greater number of the enemies of Arminius supported their charges against him, by making it a question of authority: "the States," they said, "had decided the question, by adopting Calvin's doctrine at the union; so that the gainsayers of it were guilty of treason." The friends of Arminius replied, that he did not deny Calvin's doctrine, but merely explained it. ”

“ This school has subsisted until our time: it has never been without writers of the greatest taste, judgment and erudition; the names of Cujacius, Augustinus, the Gothofredi, Heineccius, Voetius, Vinnius, Gravina and Pothier, are as dear to the scholar as they are to the lawyer; an Englishman however must reflect with pleasure, that the Commentaries of his countryman, Sir William Blackstone, will not suffer in a comparison with any foreign work of jurisprudence. ”

“ The art of war seems to consist, at the present time, in directing immense masses of men, by skilful evolutions and positions, to the destruction of the force opposed. In the wars of the Netherlands, it was principally shewn by surprising strong-holds, besieging towns, regular assaults, advantageous encampments, and wasting the army of the enemy by skilful marches. The camp of Maurice became a school, in which the nobility and gentry of the empire, France, and England, entered as volunteers, to learn the art of war. ”

“ In the belief of these articles, all Christians, the Roman Catholic, all the Oriental churches, all the members of the Church of England, all Lutherans, Calvinists, Socinians, and Unitarians, are agreed. In addition to these, each division, and subdivision of Christians, has its own tenets. Now, let each settle among its own members, what are the articles of belief, peculiar to them, which, in their cool deliberate judgment, they consider as absolutely necessary that a person should believe, to be a member of the church of Christ ”

“ So greatly was this the case, that the Contra-remonstrants appealed against his doctrines to several Protestant states, and represented to them the doctrine of Vorstius in the most odious light. Our James I. accepted the appeal: by a royal proclamation, he caused Vorstius's Treatise de Deo to be burnt in London, and each of the English Universities. He drew up a list, of the several heresies, which he had discovered in it, commanded his resident at the Hague to notify them to the States; to express his horror of them, and his detestation of those, who should tolerate them. ”

“ Unfortunately, the Christians engaged in these ungrateful speculations: their disputes chiefly turned upon the effect, which motive, suggested by grace, or the divine favour, has upon will. Does it necessitate? then, there is no free-will,-no merit,-no demerit. Does it not necessitate? then, in the choice of good, man acts by his own power, and thus achieves a good of which God is not the author.
CHAP. V. 1610-1617.
The dispute was brought to an issue by Pelagius and his disciples. They held, that man acts independently of divine grace, both in the choice and execution of good. ”

“ That in the opinion of Grotius; fasting was early used in the church; the observance of Lent was a very early practice: the sign of the cross had something respectable in it; the fathers held virginity a more perfect state than marriage; and the celibacy of the priests conformable to the antient discipline of the church: [058]
And
"that those, who shall read the decrees of the Council of Trent, with a mind disposed to peace, will find that every thing is wisely explained in them: and agreeable to what is taught by the Scriptures and the antient fathers." ”

“ As soon as Grotius's wife ascertained that he was in perfect safety, she informed the guards of his escape: these communicated the intelligence to the governor. He put her into close confinement; but in a few days, an order of the States General set her at liberty, and permitted her to carry with her every thing at Louvestein, which belonged to her. It is impossible to think without pleasure of the meeting of Grotius and his heroic wife. ”

“ The theological works of Grotius are comprised in four volumes folio: the three first contain his Commentary, and Notes upon the Scriptures. On their merit, both Catholics and Protestants considerably differ. All allow that an abundance of sacred and profane learning is displayed in them; and that Grotius, by his references to the writings of the Rabbis, and his remarks upon the idiom of the sacred writings, has happily elucidated a multitude of passages in the text. He uniformly adopts the literal and obvious signification of the language used by the holy penmen. ”

“ Three important objections have been made to this celebrated work,-one, that the author defers in it, too little, to principle, too much, to authority;-another, that the work is written in a very desultory manner, with small attention to order, or classification;-a third, that his authorities are often feeble, and sometimes whimsical. "Grotius," says Condillac, "was able to think for himself; but he constantly labours to support his conclusions by the authority of others. ”

“ The best edition of Grotius's treatise de Jure Belli et Pacis was published at Amsterdam in 1730, by John Barbeyrac.
Foreigners observe, that the study of the law of nature and nations is less cultivated in England than upon the continent. Is it not, because Englishmen are blessed with a free constitution; are admitted into a general participation of all its blessings; are thus personally interested in the national concerns; and have therefore a jurisprudence, which comes nearer to their bosoms? ”

“ Having prevailed upon the senate of Geneva to found an academy, and place it under his superintendence, and having filled it with men eminent throughout Europe for their learning and talent, it became the favourite resort of all persons, who leaned to the new principles, and sought religious or literary instruction. ”

“ That man hath not saving faith of himself, and by the strength of his own free will; since, while in a state of sin and apostasy, he cannot of himself think, desire, or do, that which is truly good, which is what is chiefly meant by saving faith; but it is necessary that God in Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit, regenerate and renew him in his understanding and affections, or in his will and all his powers ”

“ Thus the United Provinces became a confederacy of seven independent principalities, called in the aggregate the States General. Several years elapsed before their constitution was finally settled. Then, the supreme sovereignty of the whole was considered to be vested in the people of every province represented by the States. These consisted of deputies appointed to them from the different provinces. Each province might send to the assembly more than one deputy; but, whatever was the number of deputies sent by them, they had one vote only in the proceedings of the assembly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Erasmus, Cassander; Wicelius and Casaubon had the same design. La Meletiere is employed at present in it. Cardinal de Richelieu declares that he will protect the coalition; and he is such a fortunate man, that he never undertakes any thing, in which he does not succeed. If there were no hopes of success at present, ought we not to sow the seed, which may he useful to posterity? [063] Even if we should only diminish the mutual hatred among Christians, and render them more sociable, would not this be worth purchasing at the price of some labour and reproaches? ”