bogaert, his fellow-student at Geneva; Simon Episcopius (Bisschop), his young pupil and successor in the chair of theology at Leyden; and Dr. John Drusius, professor of Hebrew in the University of Franeker, all of whom exerted a more or less powerful influence on the fortunes of Arminianism and the cause of the Remonstrants. Of De Groot, Bowring observes in his Batavian Anthology: "The very name of Grotius calls up all that the imagination can conceive of greatness and true fame. . . . The authority of his great name, always associated with Christianity, with peace, with literature, with freedom and suffering and virtue, has ever been a bulwark of truth and morals." The sad fate of Oldenbarneveldt-who, at seventy-three years of age, after a long life of splendid public service, was condemned by the Synod of Dort, in 1619, and beheaded at The Hague in August of that year for his attachment to the cause and doctrines of the Remonstrants-is an eternal stigma on the memory of Prince Maurice, and a perpetual reproach to the Calvinistic party. John Uitenbogaert occupied the pulpit of the leading church at The Hague for more than a generation, and was considered one of the most able and eloquent preachers and most judicious ecclesiastical counselors in the Netherlands. The brilliant and learned young Episcopius became, after the death of his great teacher, the leader of the Remonstrant body and its first systematic theologian. His magnificent defense-two hours long-of the Remonstrant cause, delivered in Latin before the Synod of Dort, drew tears from the eyes of nearly all but the haughty and irascible president of the Synod, Bogerman, and was long remembered in other lands by members of the foreign delegations there present, several of the most distinguished of whom became converts to Arminianism on their return to their native countries. Among these may be mentioned Dr. Thomas Goad, vice chancellor of Oxford-" a great and general scholar, exact critic, and historian, a poet, orator, schoolman, and divine" *—and Mr. Hales, secretary to the English ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, at The Hague. When the latter heard Episcopius in the Synod expound verse 16 of John iii, “God so loved the world," he said, "There I bid John Calvin * Echard, History of England, vol. ii, p. 122. good night."* Among other distinguished theologians of that and the succeeding age who avowed their acceptance of the leading positions of Arminius were Daniel Tilenus, professor of divinity at Sedan; Dr. Christopher Potter; Dr. Thomas Jackson, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford;† Bishop Andrews; Bishop Davenant; Archbishop Usher; § Bishop Womack; Dr. Robert Sanderson, professor of divinity at Oxford, and afterward Bishop of Lincoln; Dr. Thomas Pierce; and Dr. John Goodwin.** The Theological Institutes of Episcopius, seldom read to-day, attracted wide attention in the seventeenth century. The celebrated Benedictine, Father Mabillon, borrowed the work from the library of the Archbishop of Rheims, studied it exhaustively for two months, and recommended it strongly to the monasteries of his order, observing of the author, "His style is beautiful, and his manner of treating his subject answers his style perfectly well.” †† While at first somewhat unfortunate in some of its early friends and advocates, such as Archbishop Laud, the Earl of Stafford, and Charles I-whose wretched policy of suppression alienated the Puritans from their theology, just as a similar policy banished the Remonstrants in Holland ex aris et focis, from 1619 to 1626-the Arminian theology was destined to take firm root in England, and exert a profound and enduring influence on the religious life and thought of the Englishspeaking peoples on both sides of the ocean. It is no exag geration to say that the great revival which began in the earlier half of the eighteenth century and has continued to our own day -whose least result, as a distinguished modern historian has reminded us, was the origination of Methodism-would have been impossible under the domination of Calvinism. Whitefield succeeded in reaching the people, and so did Edwards and Tennant, but only because their practical and popular theology was in flat contradiction to their theoretic and speculative * Nichol, Works of Arminius, vol. i, p. 417. Pierce, Divine Purity Defended, p. 125. § Life of Dr. John Goodwin, by Thomas Jackson. || Hammond, Pacific Discourse Concerning God's Grace and Decrees, p. 8. **Jackson, Life of Goodwin. ↑↑ Treatise on the Studies which are Proper for Those Who Live in Monasteries. views. And it is undeniable that a distinctly Arminian soteriology lies at the basis of every successful evangelistic movement of our own day. In securing the homage and allegiance of such intellects as that of John and Thomas Goodwin, Arminianism dropped its seed in a deep and rich soil. For, though John Wesley and his most scholarly preachers, such as Coke, Fletcher, Asbury, Clarke, and Watson, were not unacquainted with the Disputationes Publica et Private and other works of Arminius, and with the Latin treatises of the ablest of the Remonstrants, such as Episcopius, Limborch, the elder and younger Brandts, it was mainly through the noble works of the Goodwins that they came to know Arminianism in its best form. Fletcher, in preparing his Checks, made a careful study of the works of the Remonstrants; and Wesley's indorsement of the great Dutchman was characteristically cordial and complete. He called his first popular serial The Arminian Magazine, and says of Arminius: The declaration of his opinions, which he spoke in an assembly of the States, serves at once by facts to evidence the unfair usage he met with, and to proclaim to the world as manly and rational a system of divinity as any age or nation has produced. His uncommon mildness and forbearance, rendered still more extraordinary by the age in which he lived, is apparent in every page of his writings; and his disputes with the celebrated Junius and our English Perkins on the subject of predestination are, for the polite and generous manner in which he has conducted them, an honor to human nature.* *Arminian Magazine, 1778. Hosea Hewitt 52-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. XV. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTS. NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS." "THE belief that all things are working together for some good end is the most essential expression of religious faith; of all intellectual propositions it is the one most closely related to that emotional yearning for a higher and better life (for oneself and for mankind) which is the sum and substance of religion. . . . Only admit that the divine attributes are (as they must be) incommensurably greater than human attributes, and our faith that all things are working together for good may remain unimpugned." So writes the earliest American interpreter of Darwinism, basing this optimistic belief on the teachings of modern science as a thoroughgoing theistic evolutionist understands them. RELIGION and theology are not identical, nor even inseparable. Genuine religion may exist without formal theology, and theology without religion. The essence of religion lies rather in moral submission to the divine rule of life than in mental subscription or consent to any number of fixed dogmatic formulas. Religion means, according to the Christian understanding, obedience to the great twofold commandment given and exemplified by the divine Founder of our holy religion. To love God and man, to "move upward working out the beast," to "let the ape and tiger die," is the test and essence of true religion. Thus defined, it is within a child's apprehension; while the freshest and deepest philosophy declares to-day that the rank of individuals and communities in the scale of civilization is determined and marked by the degree of their conformity to Christ's great commandment. Twenty-five years ago the author of Ecce Homo described the nature of the essential faith, which is the pith and core of true religion, with rare ethical and spiritual penetration, as follows: He who, when goodness is impressively put before him, exhibits an instinctive loyalty to it, starts forward to take its side, trusts himself to it-such a man has faith, and the root of the matter is in such a man. He may have habits of vice, but the loyal and faithful instinct in him will place him above many that practice virtue. He may be rude in thought and character, but he will unconsciously gravitate toward what is right. Other virtues can scarcely thrive without a fine natural organization and a happy training. But the most neglected and ungifted of men may make a beginning with faith. Other virtues want civilization, a certain amount of knowledge, a few books; but in half-brutal countenances faith will light up a glimmer of nobleness. The savage, who can do little else, can wonder and worship and enthusiastically obey. He that cannot know what is right can know that some one else knows; he who has no law may still have a master; he who is incapable of justice may still be capable of fidelity; he who understands little may have his sins forgiven because he loves much. THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. In a church prayer meeting, where the subject for the evening was "Temperance," a physician of high repute, member of the medical staff of a large hospital, contributed to the interest and profit of the occasion a lucid, concise, and comprehensive statement of the nature and effects of alcohol from the medical point of view and as ascertained by scientific investigation. We here present a condensed but faithfully accurate report of the substance of his address. The appetite for stimulants of some kind is almost universal among the nations and tribes of men. The distinguishing and intoxicating element in the stimulants most in use-in malt and spirituous liquors-is alcohol. The great majority of the thoroughly educated members of the medical profession are agreed on two conclusions, which have been verified by critical observation and experience : FIRST. To the human system in health alcohol is unnecessary and injurious; unnecessary because it does nothing which the healthy body cannot better do for itself; injurious because it introduces into the system a superfluous element, a drug which the physical economy knows not what to do with; injurious also and especially because of its dangerous tendency to inflame the appetite rapidly and fasten the drink habit upon the man or woman. (Etymology drives home a sharp truth; literally, intoxication is impoisoning.) SECOND. In some kinds of sickness alcohol has its proper use as a medicine. Administered in small quantities it is observed to have a beneficial effect on some abnormal conditions. Its definite effect when thus administered is to stimulate the action |