himself, by taking them in their stead." The other instantly marched off without making any reply.*

When the particulars of the excommunication of these persons reached Episcopius in France, he immediately addressed a long and learned letter to them, in which he vigorously and triumphantly refuted the arguments adduced by the minister in support of this act, as they were stated by him, prior to his reading the form of excommunication; and, therefore, showed it to be a vain and foolish assumption of power. This letter was afterward published without his knowledge, under the title of Nietigheyt van den Calvinischen ban; or, The Invalidity of Calvinistic Excommunication.

On a review of the conduct of the Calvinist ministers presented in this chapter, who thus excited the civil powers to persecute their fellow Christians and brother ministers, with the methods they adopted to gain and give information against them, in order that they might be committed to a dungeon, and the satisfaction, nay, exultation, they manifested on such occasions,, we think the reader will admit with us that it deserves the severest reprobation. This is especially the case in reference to the conduct of Triglandius, who, when dining with some of his friends, and hearing that Welsing, the Arminian clergyman, was

* In several instances the Contra-Remonstrants received severe rebukes on account of their bigotry and rigid opinions. A facetious and satirical man, by the name of Robert Robertson, who did not belong to the Remonstrants, was met one day, while walking on the beach at Horn, by two Calvinist ministers, who, knowing the disposition of the man, were disposed, says Brandt, to joke with him; and they accosted him thus, "Well, Robert, you seem very pensive, what is the matter with you?" "It is true, sirs," said he, "I am pensive, for I was just considering who was the author of sin." "Well," replied the others, "and whom do you consider to be its author?" "Why," said he, "when it was first introduced into our world, Adam laid the blame upon Eve, Eve laid the blame upon the serpent, who, at that time, was very young, ignorant, and modest, and bore the charge in silence, but having become more experienced and daring, he has been to the Synod of Dort, and laid the blame upon God."

That many of the members of the synod and the Calvinists of the continent, did, in that day, charge God with being the author of sin, the ecclesiastical history of that period furnishes decisive evidence. One instance in proof of the correctness of this statement we shall subsequently notice.

brought to the Hague as a prisoner, exultingly and impi ously exclaimed at table: "God be praised that this rogue is taken! had I known it an hour sooner, I should have sent information of it to my wife, who would have esteemed it as the most interesting news she ever heard in her life. If none of these fellows [Arminian ministers] have yet worked in the bridewell, I'll take care that this Welsing shall. Come," said he, "fill the glasses, such news is worth rejoicing over." He then drank off a bumper of wine to show his joy at the event, in which he was followed by the rest of the company. In connection with this statement, we deem it right to remind the reader of the fact, that this man took upon himself the office of historian of the ecclesiastical transactions of this period in the Low Countries. This we are afraid he did with the design of giving his own colouring to the affairs of the Remonstrants, and we apprehend that the principal part of the misrepresentations which have been advanced against them in this country, are to be traced to his misstatements.

In remarking on the proceedings of these men, we shall advert less to their names than to the principles by which they were governed, in order that we may be enabled to form a correct estimate of their feelings, as the source of that conduct which justly warrants us in designating them complete bigots and finished persecutors. In cases of this kind, a cultivated state of mind seems to form no barrier against individuals acting so foul a part; for many of these were men of learning. This we conceive may arise from the circumstance of the persecutor, while he is engaged in his dark work, being actuated more by the dictate of feeling than of the understanding; and although the latter, viewed in the abstract, might be considered as a guarantee against such measures, yet the fact of a person of educated intellect being a persecutor only goes to prove that if his judgment performs its functions in denouncing such conduct, yet his passions gaining the ascendency shows that the intellect and feelings of the man form two distinct departments, and act as antagonist principles. In most instances we should conceive, that the violent calumniator or persecutor of another acts from self-love and wounded pride, associated with a secret dread that the

impugner of his thinkings and opinions may at length overthrow and lay him prostrate in the dust. That facts bear out this statement, as being applicable to the vindictive feelings manifested on the part of the Contra-Remonstrant clergy against their Arminian brethren, appears evident to us. For having shown that they were con scious that they had not the force of argument within their power to silence their opponents,* the transition from a dreaded attempt at reasoning with, to that of denouncing them, was very easy; and as they had the privilege of calling in the aid of the civil authority, to do by the power of the sword what they dare not attempt by the power of argument, they availed themselves of it, and their triumph became complete.

One circumstance we wish the reader to bear in mind, that moral character in its most spotless forms, which, in other cases, comes to the advantage of the alleged culprit, in this instance is found to render his fall more certain and violent while he is under the hand of a priestly persecutor. This originates with the necessity the latter is under to give the colour of justice to the proceedings instituted against his victim, in order to make it appear that the man who is thus to suffer is a malefactor of the darkest shade. And this ghostly malignant finds it to be the most summary mode of accomplishing his purpose to brand him with infamy, by holding him forth as a foul rebel spirit against the truth of God. Having thus wrought himself up to the capability of exhibiting his victim in this light, he is prepared to denounce even holiness of charac ter and acting in him a dangerous feature in his condition, tending to give to the heresy of his opinions a more imposing, extended, and, therefore, destructive influence. Hence we find in the case of one of the Remonstrants who was charged with heterodoxy, in a provincial synod, and a vindication of him being set up by some of its mem. bers on the ground of his pious and holy conduct, that a minister said, "Behold, brethren, the pernicious effects of piety!" when he was followed by another, who added "that he was indeed of an unblamable life, but that no heretics could do so much mischief to the Church as those who led good and holy lives, because it enabled them to

* See page 294 of this work.

insinuate themselves more easily into the affections of the people, and in this way they could successfully diffuse their errors." Thus we invariably find that the history of persecution furnishes us with proofs that the most pure, devout, and lofty spirits have been the first selected to gratify the rage of the persecutor and the bigot. Witness the case of Lord Cobham in our own country by the Catholics, and the devout and holy Poppius in Holland by the Calvinists, who finished his days in a dungeon, to satiate their malignity and cruelty. To us it would appear that a person more easily becomes a persecutor when he acts in concert with others than when alone. This arises, we apprehend, from the influence of sympathy he has with the members of a community thus acting, being intent upon the safety of its privileges, while the wickedness of such a deed, or course of deeds, seems to lose much of its guiltiness, as applicable to himself, by its being divided or shared by a larger number of persons. Thus it is that the persecuting measures of a community are more violent and cruel than those of individuals.

In looking at the case of these Dutch ministers, it may appear a startling circumstance that men who made sounding professions of superior attainments of truth and piety, should be capable of the acts thus attributed to them. But the reader has only to recollect that sacred truths existing in the mind may be neutralized as to their sanctifying effect by being associated with certain pernicious errors. Hence an intolerant person, who is prepared to look upon a man as the reprobate of heaven, and sees in the dogmas that he maintains the very signs of that reprobation, may consider himself called upon to crush the influence of such an individual; and as no method is so effectual to accomplish this as that of destroying him, it seems natural that he should have recourse to it. And if this person is led to suppose that a state of acceptance with the Divine Being is to be found in his admission of certain dogmas, though unaccompanied with any hallowing feeling, such a man, we conceive, is prepared to go the most awful lengths when his opinions are attacked, inasmuch as such a measure tends to throw doubt upon his safety, and he necessarily becomes a fierce and cruel persecutor. Thus, unchecked in his intolerant de

signs by any thing like the sanctifying power of religion, this defender of mere creed will at once show, in the fury of his zeal, the malevolence of his passions, and the vindictiveness of his feelings, that pity is extirpated from his bosom, conscience is silenced in her court, mercy is banished from his heart, fellow feeling toward his brethren is extinguished, the sacred name of religion is used for the manifestation of the foulest bigotry, and the sense of jus tice which might exist with this person in other cases assumes the form of barbarous revenge. And when once he has given way to a taste for cruelty, he is prepared for the most ruthless acts, and if he can but see his victim "pale with a paleness which a dungeon sheds on his face; if he can but catch the clanking of a chain about his neck, which a Barabbas yesterday wore; yes, and if he hear him groaning under torments that are the necessary schooling of obdurate wickedness; then he can fill up with ease what was before wanting to tranquillize a just revenge.

"

In proof that this picture of the persecutor's heart is no caricature, let the reader take the statement of a Calvinistic counsellor, who said, "I wish I were to sit in judg. ment upon Uitenbogaerdt and Episcopius, who, while sending Arminian ministers into Holland to preach, keep our of the way themselves. I would certainly condemn them to be hanged, and take care myself to see the sentence put into execution." We shall close these remarks on the conduct of the Dutch Calvinists of the early part of the seventeenth century, in the language of a writer to whom we have more than once referred in these pages. Churches and communities, as well as individuals, have a future retribution to fear-if a day is to come when the righteous Administrator of human affairs and the Head of the Church is to make manifest his detestation of ecclesiastical bloodshed and torments, shall the Church of Rome stand alone at the bar, or have no companion in punishment? Ought we not to think more worthily of the justice of Heaven than to suppose it ?”*

* Fanaticism.

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