Chapter 3 Part 1

The Life of James Arminius
Chapter 3, Part 1 of 3.

This biography of James Arminius was written in Latin by Caspar Brandt, published by Gerard Brandt in 1724, and translated to English by John Guthrie in 1854.
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CHAPTER III.
ARMINIUS, IN EXPOUNDING ROMANS IX., ENCOUNTERS FRESH STORMS; CONFUTES THE CALUMNIES OF PLANCIUS; AND CORRESPONDS, ON POINTS IN DISPUTE, WITH GELLIUS SNECANUS AND FRANCIS JUNIUS. —A.D. 1592—1597.

THE foregoing matter being settled, and the peace of the Church having, in the way narrated, been to some extent restored, Arminius forthwith proceeded with his series of discourses on the Epistle to the Romans. To these, high and low flocked in crowds, as the day came round, including individuals of diverse shades of religious opinion. Nor were the aims of the several auditors of a less varied complexion. Some were attracted by genuine attachment to the man, and by the very great celebrity associated with his name. Others rushed upon him, on the other hand, by a sort of blind impulse, and listened to his discourses with no other view than to extract from them materials with which to lessen his growing fame, and array against him as much as possible of envy and ill-will. This Arminius soon suspected, and deemed it his duty, in consequence, to take the more care, on the one hand not to do violence to his conscience, by advocating certain doctrines of the truth of which he had some doubt; but neither, on the other, to advance aught at variance with received opinions which might justly and warrantably offend the ears of dissentients. But with all the prudence and perseverance with which he pursued this aim, now that an unfavourable opinion had once been formed against him, he could not succeed in thoroughly rooting it out of the minds of his compeers, and of those who yielded themselves up to their authority.

That feeling began especially to be resuscitated in the commencement of the following year, on the occasion of his expounding the ninth chapter of the Romans. While occupied with this chapter, and aware that it was everywhere cited by Reformed divines as the main prop of their tenet of absolute predestination, Arminius made up his mind neither to advocate nor to contradict that opinion, but contented himself with affirming that the apostle in this place prosecutes the argument and the aim which he had prescribed to himself in the foregoing chapters, and vindicates his doctrine of the justification of man by faith against a variety of objections urged by the Jews [Vid. Uitenb. Hist. Eccles.]. These, accordingly, he refuted in several discourses, and by solid reasonings; but although he was allowed by many to have acted the part of a strenuous champion of the Christian religion, he roused against himself the less favourable judgments of others. For when, in the course of elucidating the scope of St Paul, and expounding this memorable chapter, he pursued a path in some respects new, and made no reference whatever to the more crude opinions which were commonly grounded upon it, the most of his ministerial brethren inveighed against him all the more that they saw him rising rapidly in the estimation of Lutherans, Mennonites, and others, who were dissatisfied with the harsher statements, on that subject, of the Reformed. The Ecclesiastical Senate, therefore, having met once and again in the absence of Anninius, at length, on the 25th of March, began openly to deal with him. On that occasion, the Rev. J. Hallius, in name of the entire judicatory, addressed him, and declared 'that he had listened with the utmost pain to the complaints of some of the citizens, whom his lectures on the ninth chapter of the Romans had in the highest degree disturbed. The avowed enemies of the Church had thence taken occasion to cavil at the Reformed doctrine; and many Christians were furnished with good ground to suspect that on several doctrines some diversity of opinion was secretly fostered between him and the other ministers of the gospel. With the view of foreclosing further alienation of spirit, the Presbytery had resolved to warn him of this matter, and to request that he would preach the self-same doctrines as his colleagues, and declare openly from the pulpit that he had never uttered anything contrary to the Confession and Catechism, and that those who suspected him of such a thing had very grievously misunderstood his discourses.' [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii. Vide et acta Presbyt. Amstel. ci'ata a Trigland in Hist. Eccles.].

To this Arminius replied, 'That he had heard with no less pain of the clandestine slanders of some, and of his being branded with the names of heretic, libertine, and Pelagian. He had never given any man occasion to think so unfavourably of him. The Reformed Confession and Catechism he had never contradicted, but, on the contrary, had always preached in harmony with them; and more than once, from the very pulpit, had he made a declaration to that effect. But if any man would accuse him openly, and in his presence, and thought he could convict him of that crime, he was ready, there and then, to hear the evidence, and defend his own innocence. It was theirs frankly to accept this candid declaration, to divest the minds of others of such injurious suspicions, and to allow him to rejoice in the name of a good man until it could be proved by indubitable testimony that he had fallen out of the appellation. He, for his part, deemed this admonition of the Presbytery uncalled for, so far as concerned himself; and in the exercise of the same right which the brethren were using in regard to him, as well as from a desire for the preservation of peace, he, in his turn, warned and entreated them not to deliver anything at variance with the Word of God, or the received standards of faith, and never to use expressions extraneous to these, of a nature fitted to stir doubts in the minds of the weak, or furnish any with an occasion of stumbling. Nay more, since no man had openly accused him, and merely a rumour had spread, that in discourses lately delivered he had betrayed the existence of some undefined sort of difference between him and his brethren in the ministry, it was as much their duty to see to it that they agreed well with him, as it was his duty to see to it that he agreed well with them — it being incumbent on both to do what in them lay for the preservation of peace, in those articles to the truth of which they had all equally subscribed.' This was spoken with some warmth, and many speeches followed on both sides; when one of the elders betrayed sufficiently his want of self-control in the following outburst: — 'He saw the arts of the Devil to disturb the peace of this Church. Some of the rulers themselves had this object in view. It was of no use for Arminius to appeal to the Confession and Catechism, seeing he had already explained two passages of Scripture against the sense of these standards. For his part, after hearing him interpret the seventh chapter of Romans, he could never derive any benefit from his discourses.'

To this Arminius modestly replied, 'That, by the help of God, he would not prove an instigator and author of strife. It ought to be matter of faithful inquiry, by whom, and through what secret channels, the sworn foe of the human race was attempting to sow controversies and engender discord. He hoped better things of his lords, the clement rulers of the city. So far was he from believing that any one of them aimed at such an end, that he, on the contrary, felt assured, that whatever authority they had at command, it would be all exercised with the utmost moderation, in the way of calling to order such ecclesiastics as were neglecting their duty and fomenting division. His own conscience witnessed to himself — what he was further assured of by the testimony of not a few — that his discourses had not been useless, nor their delivery without fruit. As to the passages of Scripture expounded contrary to the sense of the Confession, that was a charge of which no man could convict him. He acknowledged that the 18th verse of the seventh chapter of the Romans was quoted in the margin of the Confession with a somewhat different application; but truly, if every divine of the Reformed Church must needs stick so tightly by the track of that Confession, and if it was to be at once set clown as an enormous offence for any one, in quoting passages of Scripture, too, to deviate from it even the breadth of his nail, it would be an easy matter for him to prove the most of his co-presbyters guilty of this delinquency; for more than once had they preached in contrariety, not merely to certain passages cited in the margin, but to some which stand out to view in the very text of the Confession.' [Ex schedulis MS. Arminii.]. To this the Reverend Kuchlinus did not object, but subjoined, 'That if there was agreement in all those points which constituted the hinge on which the articles of the Confession turned, there would be little trouble in adjusting the rest.' These things accordingly were dismissed; after which, certain questions were started respecting the duty of elders and ecclesiastical discipline, on which Arminius and his reverend colleague, John Halsberg, were suspected of entertaining some erroneous opinion. They defended themselves each in a lengthy reply, and cleared themselves of the charges which were preferred against them. At last, addressing Arminius, J. Hallius, the president and moderator of the Presbytery for the time being, declared that he had much pleasure in hearing him express his readiness to cultivate union with his brethren in the matter of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline; and after praying that God would smile on these beginnings, and guide the whole affair to an issue happy and prosperous for the Church, he dismissed the meeting.