on Antichrist, while the established institutions of this country were tottering, and ready to fall before the overwhelming force of the reforming Goths and Vandals. To a Briton they are particularly interesting, as all of them incidentally exhibit the same generous design,-to bring the English and Scotch Calvinists to a better state of mind, and to give them more correct and scriptural notions of civil and religious liberty.t

Any one that has attentively read the private letters of Grotius at that period, may form a just estimate of the difficulty which he had to encounter in procuring the publication of these three works and of his Appendix de Antichristo. The famous house of DE BLEAU were his printers and publishers; and the nearly-asfamous house of JANSSON printed the works of Rivet. Both of

The animosity of Rivet against Grotius has been briefly stated, page 230. He was not content with virulently defaming the living, but gave utterance to the vilest calumnies against his dead opponent. Courcelles furnishes us with the following account of one of his falsehoods: "Andrew Rivet has acted with a little more openness, when he spoke about that illustrious individual, Hugh Grotius. For he says, 'He seems to many persons to have expired in the act of breathing out menaces, while he lay entirely engrossed with passion, in the very gall of bitterness, and without exhibiting the least sign of penitence, &c. To this statement, nothing more was necessary to be added, except that no hopes could be entertained of his salvation; though, to soften such a harsh and unmerciful sentence as this would be, he concludes thus: But yet we do not judge another man's servant, who to his own master hath stood and FALLEN.' But for what purpose does he assume this semblance of moderation respecting the consequence, when the whole difficulty lies in the antecedent? On the contrary, had I been certain, that either Grotius or Blondel had expired in any grievous crime without repentance, I would not have been afraid to declare concerning him, though with sorrow, He is damned! For in that case 1 should not myself have passed sentence upon him; but it would have been the sentence of God in his own word, which is firmer than both heaven and earth!"-These animadversions are quoted by Marets, without any disapprobation of Rivet's conduct. Bayle says, "It can be nothing but a gross artifice, to say Such a man died without repenting of his enormous crimes, and yet I will not pretend to pronounce what was his fate."

Whoever has read Coxe's Relation of the Death of Dr. Andrew Rivet, and will compare it with the death of Grotius as related by Dr. John Quistorpius, Professor of Divinity at Rostock, who attended him in his last moments,-and will at the same time consider, that the one died in the bosom of his family and surrounded by his friends, the other had narrowly escaped from shipwreck with his life, and was proceeding homewards by laud, when sickness suddenly assailed him among strangers,-whoever will read the two accounts, will be at no loss to decide which of these men made the most pious and edifying confession. With evident complacency, Rivet makes mention of his own labours in defence of the truth, that is, of Calvinism, though he does not dissemble the contrition he felt on account of having maltreated many of his opponents, but especially the French Cameronists, towards whom he undoubtedly acted with very bad faith. The letter of Quistorpius is familiar to general readers: It was published by Dr. Hammond, in 1654. No one can read the commencement of it without being affected:"Having mentioned the publican, who acknowledged himself to be a sinner, and beseeched God to be merciful to him, Grotius answered, I am that publican-I proceeded, and directed him to Christ, without whom there can be no salvation; he replied, On Christ alone all my hopes are placed;" &c.-Bayle was no friend to Arminianism, yet his reflections on this subject are very just: "It would be ridiculous in any man

these houses had their extensive establishments in the free city of Amsterdam, which had a peculiar jurisdiction of its own, and was therefore the less liable to be under external dictation. Yet such was the implacable spirit of the Calvinists, and so minute and extensive were their subtle arrangements, that, rather than have their prophesying propensities restrained, they chose to expend all their artifice and prowess to suppress these productions of Grotius. The friendly understanding which then subsisted between the two great printing-houses was also injurious to the speedy execution of the noble designs of this aged peace-maker. Of these circumstances he makes frequent complaints in the letters to his brother, from which I here subjoin a few extracts:

to doubt of the sincerity of Quistorpius. He could not be prompted by interest to tell a falsehood; and it is well known, that the Lutheran ministers felt as much dissatisfaction as the Calvinists, at the particular opinions of Grotius. The testimony of the Professor of Rostock is therefore an authentic proof: Let us consider it then as indisputably true, (1) That Grotius, in his expiring moments was in the same frame of mind as the publican in the gospel: (2) That he placed all his hopes in Jesus Christ alone: (3) That his last thoughts were those contained in the prayers of dying persons, according to the Ritual of the Lutherans. Now, in my opinion, no other prayer can be found that includes more pious thoughts, and such as a true Christian ought to entertain when he is preparing to appear before the Divine Tribunal."

Rivet appears to have been a consummate sycophant, and desirous of cultivating an acquaintance with persons in exalted stations. When Dr. Stephen Goffe was at the Hague in 1636, he addressed the following lines to Gerard Vossius: "I should be unwilling for you to anticipate the officious Rivet. According to his own manners, or the usages of his country, he is accustomed to prostrate himself at the feet of all the nobility. No ambassador is received at this court, of whatever [political] party or [religious] profession he may be, but his house is instantly visited by Rivet in the prodigality of his obsequiousness. It is now a long time since our treasurer received from him letters of congratulation; yet he does not know whether he is black or white [in his opinions], unless perhaps he has by his writings rendered himself more notorious than is agreeable."

Grotius has refuted, page 277, Rivet's malicious allegation, that he wished to exasperate the French monarch against his Calvinistic subjects. In one of his letters to his brother in 1643, he says: "I saw Mondeve, Rivet's son, at the church of St. Dionysius [in Paris]. I told him, his father indulged very unjust suspicions against me, by asserting that I wished to injure the French Calvinists; when I had, on the contrary, employed all the interest I possessed, to have additional liberty granted to them by a new edict.-From this conversation, he spread a report that I am now a greater Hugonot than I ever was."

Thirteen years before, Grotius had made the following remark to his brother: "Daillè, one of the pastors of the Reformed Church of Charenton, had several questions lately addressed to him in a letter, by a certain Roman Catholic. Among the rest was this, Why did you condemn the Arminians? Daille replied: "It was Arminianism, rather than the Arminians, that we condemned; for we have frequently made offers of peace and concord to the Lutherans, who hold the same sentiments as the Arminians.'-I have my fears, lest those who are in this country more powerful than they, should some time or other say: We do not banish the Calvinists from France, but Calvinism. I pray God, that this catastrophe may not happen to them'selves in the same measure as they have meted to others."-The reader does not require to be reminded, that this event actually occurred in 1685, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz.

1

"With respect to my Appendix, you know what reproaches, sneers and calumnies, I, who had done no man any injury, received from two individuals, one of whom has published my name, and the other is not ignorant of my person: I knew nothing about Marets till the present time; concerning Du Moulin, I could declare many truths that would attach to him. But I have abstained; and have not exposed their ignorance, except on those points about which they accused me of the same defect without just reason. If I have displayed any asperity, it will not be abated by a mitigation of the expressions which I employ: FACTS are the stings which wound them, by what expressions soever they may be conveyed. But, unless I entirely deceive myself, this asperity affects those persons alone who are lovers of schism, and who in a refractory manner refuse all remedies; in order to accomplish these purposes, such men produce reasons that are either very feeble, or exceedingly unjust. This asperity also touches those who suspend all things on fate, so as to promise to mankind a complete licence for sinning; and those who, under the name of the GOSPEL, excite the arms of individuals against kings or other legitimate authorities, and, when they have succeeded in their enterprize, they forcibly oppress other men,—and thus do exactly the same things as those of which they accuse the Popes. Those who withdraw themselves from such persons,which course will undoubtedly be adopted by great numbers, will have no complaints to make about my asperity.-There is nothing in that work which can possibly injure the Dutch Republic; but many things may be found in it, which relate to the defence of the just authority of rulers, popular quiet, and civil concord. Let not the publication be hindered; it ought, I think, rather to be hastened, as soon as it is begun. Should these men hereafter exercise their Stentorian lungs in bawling against it, as they assuredly will do, it will then be the duty of the De Bleaus to declare, that they have perceived no reason why they should refuse that profit which the Parisian publishers would otherwise receive; and that they have good ground for believing, that no work would proceed from the Swedish ambassador, which could

*This would appear a good and sufficient reason to a Dutch trader of that day for many acts of which he could not altogether approve. In that strange book, Dr. Heylin's History of the Sabbath, it is stated, in reference to the better regulations for enforcing a proper observance of the Lord's day, which were suggested by the British Divines at the Synod of Dort: "As for the great towns [in Holland], there is scarce any of them wherein there are not fairs and markets, Kirk-masses, as they used to call them, upon the Sunday; and those as much frequented in the afternoon, as were the churches in the forenoon: A thing from which they could not hold, not in DORT itself, what time the Synod was assembled. Nor had it now been called upon, as it is most likely, had not AMESIUS and some other of the English mal-contents scattered abroad Bound's 'principles amongst the Netherlands, which they had sown before in England: And certainly they had made as strong a faction there before this time, (their learned men be ginning to bandy one against the other in the debates about the Sabbath,) But that the livelihood of the States consisting most on trade and traffick,

possibly injure that cause the Protestant interest in which the Swedes themselves were engaged. But it will be the duty of the Amsterdam magistrates to defend a citizen in an equitable matter. Calvin ought not to be held up for an idol. It is most iniquitous, that, in a city which I hold in the highest estimation, Jansson should be allowed to do that against Grotius which, to omit all mention of other circumstances, the De Bleaus are not permitted to do for Grotius. If these reasons be not sufficient for the De Bleaus, it will be my province in future to select other publishers: This precaution I should have adopted with respect to the present productions, had 1 supposed that the publication would be prejudicial to their interests. But their advantage must not operate upon me so far, as to compel me on that account to contend with my adversaries on unequal terms, or not allow me to shew my enemies that they are so blind as not to perceive in the conduct of their own party those traits which they censure in other people as marks of Antichrist."-"I have lately been much grieved, that the De Bleaus, who formerly were remarkable for their quickness and despatch, should now proceed at such a slow pace and afford abundance of leisure to those men who neither wish well to us nor to the truth: I request that they be urged to make as rapid a progress as possible. If such writings as these cannot be published at Amsterdam, where Roman Catholic Missals and Breviaries are suffered to make their appearance, on receiving notice of this circumstance I would have made other arrangements concerning my affairs. Let us consider what may yet be done: For I will not suppress those works which are, in my own judgment, the most excellent and useful of all I have produced."-" I hear, that, among the correctors of De Bleau's press, is a certain person whose name is Ayala, and who has been in the ministry. I am afraid of that man, lest he create us some trouble, either by hindering the publication or corrupting its contents. I earnestly beseech God to grant, that no evil may happen to that Appendix, which, I trust, will some time or other be of great service".-" All these works of mine may afford much light to the real lovers of peace with truth. But when I see in what a foul and corrupt state they are published, and the small number of persons on whom I can place any reliance, I can determine on nothing better than to intreat God that he will be pleased to furnish me both with wise counsels and with good assistance."-" In the list of errata which is reprinted, I discover as many new errors as in that which was formerly printed, particularly in the Hebrew, in which I am certain Manasseh [a Jewish Corrector] has well performed the

cannot spare any day, Sunday no more than any other, from venting their commodities, and providing others. So that, in general, the Lord's day is no otherwise observed with them, (though somewhat better than it was twelve years ago,) than a half-holiday is with us; the morning, though not all of that, into the church; the afternoon to their employments."

part assigned to him; but the compositors in the office have either misunderstood his marks, or have not followed them. If De Bleau be desirous of publishing any thing excellent, it will be necessary for him to have in his own house a learned corrector of the press,-such as those retained by the houses of Stephens, Froben, Raphelengius and others."-" I am desirous to know, whether my pamphlets, Wishes for the Peace of the Church, are now on sale and come into circulation: For the publisher has never called upon me since the work was printed. I am afraid he has been well bribed to suppress all the copies; a practice which I know to have been adopted against some others."-And in an earlier letter than the three preceding, he says: "If De Bleau had fulfilled his promises, our works would have been published six months ago, and they might have served to abate a portion of the heat which some of the English Parliamentarians have imbibed. In order to their now becoming serviceable in England, we must probably wait a long time; yet that period may perhaps arrive much sooner than expected. For, repentance is the usual consequence of deeds of cruelty, which, it is quite apparent, are done in opposition to the King's wishes. The Earl of Strafford's letter to the king, and his expressions when about to suffer death, are strong presumptions of great virtue. For the Archbishop, I intreat God either to mitigate the rage of his enemies, or, if it be the Divine Pleasure to make use of his testimony, that He will strengthen him in spirit against death and all contumely.-But, in France, these productions of ours will be of immediate utility."

In the preceding extracts from Grotius, he has repeatedly declared it to be his unbiassed belief, that the Pope is not Antichrist. In the subjoined quotation, from a letter addressed to his brother in 1642, he says: "Those who wonder that I do not account the Pope as that Antichrist, must know that I am at once a lover of truth and a resident in France; to maintain the opposite opinion in this country, would be contrary to the King's express commands." These commands of the French Monarch were

The first introduction of Raphelengius into our profession was as an erudite corrector of the press to the famous Christopher Plantin, at Antwerp, whose daughter he married in 1565 He had previously taught the Greek language at Cambridge and other places. In 1585 he and his family removed from Antwerp to Leyden, where he had an extensive printing establishment, in which his father-in law had a share. Such was his profound knowledge of the Eastern tongues, that he was called to the Hebrew Professorship in the University of Leyden, then recently erected and endowed. He died in 1597.-To those who wish to have an ample account of the worthies here enumerated by Grotius, and to know the important services which they have rendered to the Republic of Letters, a perusal of the various learned and entertaining typographical publications of the Rev. T. F. Dibdin is recommended.

+12th of May, 1641, I beheld on Tower Hill the fatal stroke which severed the wisest head in England from the shoulders of the Earl of Strafford; whose crime coming under the cognizance of no human law, a new one was made,-not to be a precedent, but [to be] his destruction: To such exorbitancy were things arrived!" (BRAY's Memoirs of Evelyn.)