Chapter 7 Part 1

The Life of James Arminius
Chapter 7, 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 VII.

DISCUSSIONS OF ARMINIUS AT LEYDEN, ESPECIALLY OH THE SUBJECT OF PREDESTINATION; AND CONSEQUENT OPPOSITION OF GOMARUS. —A.D. 1603, 1604.

Thus honourably sent away, Arminius transferred his residence to Leyden, and concentrated all his care on the one aim, how to sustain with sufficient dignity the office he had obtained. As he reflected in those days, upon the lustre of that very important office, his heart sometimes failed him. In course of time, however, reassured by the kindly judgments of many respecting him, and by the favour of the entire Academy, he (in a letter dated 22nd Sept. 1603) gave expression in these words to the confidence of his spirit: 'I will therefore, with the help of the good God, address myself to this province, and look for success by his abundant blessing. He knows from what motive I have undertaken this office, what is my aim, what object I have in view in discharging the duties of it. He discerns and approves, I know. It is not the empty honour of this world — mere smoke and bubble — nor the desire of amassing wealth, (which indeed were in vain, let me strive to the utmost,) that has impelled me hither; but my one wish is to do public service in the gospel of Christ, and to exhibit that gospel as powerfully and plainly as possible before those who are destined, in their turn, to propagate it to others.' [Ex Epist. Arm. 22 Sept. 1603. script.].

In this spirit he mounted the academic chair, and commenced his prelections with three elegant and polished orations, which he delivered in succession. The first treated Of the object of Sacred Theology; the second, Of the Author and End of Theology; the third of its Certitude. By this method he strove to instil into the minds of the students a love for that divine and most dignified of all the sciences; and at his very entrance into his office he judged with Socrates, the wisest of the Gentiles, that the principal part of his responsibility stood fulfilled could he only succeed in inflaming his disciples with an ardent desire of learning. The foundation being thus laid, he proceeded to build thereupon his finished prelections on the prophetic book of Jonah, which, many years before, he had expounded from the pulpit in his vernacular tongue. And indeed these lectures, while scarcely yet begun, conciliated towards him the favourable regards of auditors of all ranks, to such a degree that they regarded with profound respect this new Atlas of the Academy; and judged that in this renowned doctor and successor, most of all, they had got the deceased Junius restored to them again. The most noble curators of the Academy, too, congratulating themselves and their school on the accession of such a man, rendered the return of a grateful mind to those by whose interest and assiduity they had procured his release from the people of Amsterdam. As the illustrious Nicolas Cromhout, senator of the Provincial Court, had been preeminently active in this business, the noble John Dousa thought him entitled to have the following tribute of thanks sent to him in name of the entire Academy:—

'Cromhout! in Holland's Senate no mean name;
Cromhout, rare laurel in thy country's fame;
Practised in courts, accomplished and refined.
No sordid motive taints thy lofty mind.
Much owes our era to thy virtues rare,
(Could heaven a boon bestow more rich and fair?)
Yet more we owe; far through thy zeal it came
That Amsterdam gave up a tender claim,
And Leyden's learned halls could boast Arminius' name.'

[The following are the lines, the sense of which we have thus endeavoured to present to the English reader:—

'Kromhouti, o Batavi pars haud postrema Senatus,
Cromhouti, o Patriae gloria rara tuse:
Quod Fori, et assiduo Rerum limatus in usu,
Sordida nou ulla peetora labe geras;
Multum equidem (quid enim majus dare Numina possint?)
Virtuti debent saecula nostra tuae:
Plus tamen, Arminium quod te duce et auspice primum
Hollands urbs dederit Amsterodama Scholae.']

To these lines we have pleasure in adding part of a most elegant poem published on the same occasion, and by the same poet, in praise of the very eloquent Uitenbogaert:—

'By every true and pious breast,
By all who love religion's ways,
This truly ought to be confessed —
That Uitenbogaert claims our praise.
To him our lasting thanks are due:
Nor least that Leyden's learned fame
Gained through his zeal a lustre new —
It gained Armmius' rising name.'

[The following are the original lines;—

'Et sane fateamur hoc uecesse est
Omnes queis pietas, amorque veri
Aut res Religionis ulla cordi est,
Istoc nomine nos Uitenbogardo
Esse ac perpetuum fore obligatos:
Haud paulo tamen obligatiores
Recens ob meritum, quod Aurasinae
Doctorem Arminium Scholae dedisti.']

Nor ought it by any means to be passed by in silence, that this same clergyman, in consideration of his strenuous efforts to further the call of Arminius, was honoured with a silver cup; this memorial of gratitude being presented to him, in name of the Senatus Academicus, by those influential men, Cornelius Neostadius, and Nicolas Zeistius [Ex Diario MS. Uitenb.].

Meanwhile the subject of our memoir had scarcely get foot in the Academy when he was requested by two students of theology, namely Corranus and Gilbert Jacchaeus, that he would consent to honour with his presence their theses, or positions, which they had drawn up to be subjected to public examination — those of Corranus being on Justification, those of Jacchaeus on Original Sin [Ex tractatu quodam Bertii, Belg. idiom, script.]. But although these positions contained some things not exactly to his mind, or in harmony with the opinion he had formed on these questions, he judged it nevertheless to be quite in keeping with his office to undertake the part proposed to him; for he was not ignorant of the fact, that some students of divinity under the presidency of Gomarus himself, and of other doctors, had more than once, in their own cause, defended certain dogmas to which these same doctors did not on all points accord their assent. For this reason the subject of our memoir also (on the 28th October) conformed to this custom, by no means unusual in universities; but on this occasion these very learned youths defended so strenuously each his own cause, that there was scarcely any need for the help or interference of the president.