they dislike each other, and sometimes get into contention, yet are prevented, by various causes, from attacking and overpowering one another by open war. It should not be forgotten, that we have in our own times seen Geneva itself, the parent, nurse, and guardian of the doctrine of absolute decrees and particular grace, not only become kind and gentle towards the Arminians, but also herself almost Arminian. § 13. The Gallic church, while it remained inviolate, thought proper to deviate in many particulars from the common rule of the Reformed; being influenced, as appears from many proofs, principally by this one reason, namely, that it might in some measure be relieved from a part of the hatred under which it laboured, and from that load of odious consequences which the papists charged upon the Genevan doctrines. Hence the books of the theologians of Sedan and Saumur, which were composed after the synod of Dort, contain many things quite similar and akin not only to the Lutheran sentiments concerning grace, predestination, the person of Christ, and the efficacy of the sacraments, but also to some opinions of the Romanists. The commencement of this moderation may be traced back, I think, to the year 1615, when the opinion of John Piscator, a divine of Herborn, respecting the obedience of Christ, was tacitly received, or at least pronounced void of error 5, in the council of the Isle of France, notwithstanding that it had before been rejected and exploded in other French councils. Piscator was of opinion that our Saviour did not satisfy the divine law in our stead by His obedience; but that He, as a man, was bound to obey the Divine will, and therefore could not, by keeping the law, merit any thing with God for others. It will be easy for those who understand the papal doctrines to see how much aid this opinion But it is to be hoped, that when sound interpretations shall become prevalent in the Reformed churches, these parties, which are the unhappy offspring of a disputatious spirit and of ignorance of the original languages, will at length entirely cease. Schl.] 5 Jo. Aymon, Actes de tous les Synodes Nationaux des Eglises Réformées de France, tom. ii. p. 275, 276. See Aymon, loc. cit. tom. i. p. 301. 400. 457, tom. ii. p. 13. Jac. Benign. Bossuet, Histoire des Variations des Eglises Protestantes, livr. xii. tom. ii. p. 268. Bossuet thus tauntingly reproaching, as To is his custom, the changeableness of the Reformed, Jac. Basnage appears to have replied, not solidly, in his Histoire de l'Eglise, tom. ii. p. 1533, &c. [There manifestly was some change in the views of the French divines, in regard to Piscator's sentiments; for they repeatedly and expressly condemned them in several of their synods, and afterwards yielded up the point. Hence Basnage could not deny the fact. But was this change of opinion any way reproachful to the French clergy? Bossuet thought it was: but candid men will judge otherwise. Tr.] affords to the papists, in confirming the sentiments which they commonly inculcate respecting the merit of good works, man's power to obey the law, and other points. This small beginning was followed by other far more important steps; among which some were so much out of the way, that the most modest, and the most averse from contention, among the French themselves, could not approve them.8 § 14. The divines of Saumur, first John Cameron, and then Moses Amyraut, a man distinguished for clear-sightedness and erudition, devised a method of uniting the doctrines of the Genevans respecting the divine decrees, as expounded at Dort, with the views of those who hold that the love of God embraces the whole human race. And Amyraut, from about the year 1634, pursued this most difficult of all objects with so much zeal and with so great vigour of genius, that to gain his point, he changed a great part of the received system of theology. His plan, which was too extensive to be here fully detailed, was substantially this: that God wishes the salvation of all men whatever; and that no mortal is excluded from the benefits of Christ by any divine decree: but that no one can become a partaker, either of the benefits of Christ or of salvation, unless he believes in Christ. And that God, in His boundless good [Dr. Maclaine is much offended with Dr. Mosheim, for intimating that Piscator's opinions afforded support to the popish doctrines of the merit of good works, man's ability to obey the law, &c. And, indeed, it is difficult to see the connexion, supposed by Dr. Mosheim. It is also true, as Dr. Maclaine states, that Piscator's doctrine by denying that even Christ himself could perform any works of supererogation, cut up by the roots the popish doctrine, that a vast number of common saints have performed such works, and thus have filled that spiritual treasury, from which the pontiff's can dispense pardons and indulgence to an almost unlimited extent. - Piscator held that Christ redeemed us, only by his death, or by his sufferings; and not as was then generally held, by both his active and his passive obedience. His arguments were, that Christ, as being a man, was bound to obey the will of God perfectly; so that he could not do more than he was under personal obligation to perform. Moreover, that if Christ had perfectly obeyed the law in man's stead; 8 [Dr. Maclaine is here out of all patience with Mosheim; and taxes him with bringing a groundless and malignant charge against the whole body of the French Reformed church. But Maclaine appears excited beyond what the occasion required. The five following paragraphs, namely § 14-18, detail the facts, in view of which, Mosheim made the assertion contained in the close of this paragraph. Let the reader carefully peruse them, and then judge how far Mosheim deserves rebuke. Tr.] ness, has withheld from no one the power or ability to believe: but He by no means assists all to use this power so as to obtain salvation. Hence it is that so many thousands of men perish, through their own fault, and not by the fault of God. Those who embraced this scheme were called Hypothetical Universalists; because they believed that God has compassion indeed towards all, yet only on the condition that they believed in Christ. It is the opinion of many, that this doctrine does not differ from that maintained at Dort, otherwise than as the naked club of Hercules differs from itself when painted and adorned with ribbons; which is but little difference after all. I doubt, however, whether such persons have duly considered either the principles from which it springs, or the consequences to which it leads. After considering and reconsidering it, it appears to me to be Arminianism, or, if you please, Pelagianism, artificially dressed up and veiled in ambiguous terms; and in this opinion I feel myself greatly confirmed when I look at the more recent disciples of Amyraut, who express their views more clearly and more boldly than their master.1 The author of this doctrine was first attacked by some councils of the French [Protestants]; but when they had examined the cause, they acquitted and dismissed him. With greater violence he was assailed by the celebrated Dutch divines, Andrew Rivet, Frederic Spanheim, Samuel des Marets (Maresius), and others; to whom Amyraut himself, and afterwards the leading French divines, John Daillé (Dallæus), David Blondel, and others, made energetic replies.3 The vehement and long protracted contest was productive of very little effect. For the opinions of Amyraut infected not only the Huguenot universities in France, and nearly all the principal doctors, but also spread first to Geneva, and then with the French See Jo. Wolfg. Jaeger's Historia Eccles. et Politica, sæculi xvii. decenn. iv. p. 522, &c. 1 [Schlegel expresses much regret that Dr. Mosheim neither here nor in his lectures, more clearly showed how a disguised Pelagianism lies concealed under this scheme of the Hypothetical Universalists. And he refers us to his notes on vol. i. cent. v. pt. ii. chap. v. § 23 and 26, to show that this scheme of Amyraut was not in reality Pelagianism, nor even Semi-Pelagianism. Tr.] 2 See Aymon's Actes des Synodes Nationaux des Eglises Réformées en France, tom. ii. p. 571, &c. p. 604, &c. [Quick's Synodicon, vol. ii. p. 352, &c. 397, &c. 455. Tr.] David Blondel's Actes Authentiques des Eglises Réformées, touchant la Paix et la Charité Fraternelle, p. 19, &c. p. 82, Amsterd. 1655, 4to. Peter Bayle, Dictionnaire, tom. i. art. Amyraut, p. 182, art. Daillé, tom. ii. p. 947, &c. Art. Blondell, tom. i. p. 571, &c. Christ. Matth. Pfaff, de Formula Consensus, cap. i. p. 4, &c. and others. exiles, through all the Reformed churches. Nor is there any one at the present day who ventures to speak against it. § 15. From the same desire of softening certain Reformed doctrines, which afforded to the papists as well as the others much occasion for reproach, originated Joshua Placœus' (de la Place's) opinion concerning the imputation of the sin committed by the parents of the human race. This theologian of Saumur, the colleague and intimate friend of Amyraut, in the year 1640, denied the doctrine, then generally inculcated in the Reformed schools, that the sin of the first man was imputed to his posterity; and maintained, on the contrary, that each person's own inherent defilement and disposition to sin was attributed to him, by God, as his crime; or, to use the language of theologians, he contended that original sin was imputed to men, not immediately, but only mediately. This opinion was condemned as erroneous in the synod of Charenton, A. D. 1642; and was confuted by many theologians of great respectability among the Swiss and the Dutch. And De la Place, influenced by the love of peace, did not think proper to offer any public defence of it. But neither his silence, nor the condemnation of the synod, could prevent this doctrine from commending itself to the minds of very many of the French as being reason Aymon, Synodes des Eglises Réformées de France, tom. ii. p. 680. [Quick's Synodicon, vol. ii. p. 473. He maintained hereditary depravity, which he accounted criminal, and a just ground of punishment, but denied the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity. Tr.]-Placæus advanced his opinion, in his Theses Theologica de Statu Hominis lapsi, ante Gratiam, 1640, which are inserted in the Syntagma Thesium Theologicar. in Academia Salmuriensi disputatarum, pt. i. p. 205, &c. He was understood by some, to deny all imputation of Adam's sin. He was first brought into trouble on the subject in the year 1645; when Ant. Garissoles, a divine of Montauban, and others, accused him before the national synod of Charenton. Amyraut, though he adhered to the common doctrine, defended him: but his opinion was disapproved by the synod. Many censured the decision of the synod, as being hasty and unjust, because Placæus was condemned, uncited and unheard, his opinion being misapprehended, and Garissoles his accuser being allowed to preside in the synod. Placæus himself was so cool, dispassionate, and peaceful, that he defended his assailed reputation by no public writing, but patiently waited for the meeting of a new synod, until, at last, the unceasing outcry of his opponents, in 1655, compelled him to publish a new Disputation, de Imputatione prima Peccati Adami, in which he showed that the synod did not understand his doctrine; since he denied merely his immediate imputation of Adam's sin, (an imputation arising from the sovereign decree of God,) and not the mediate imputation or one naturally consequent on the descent of men from Adam. Yet this explanation did not satisfy his excited opposers. Andrew Rivet, Samuel Maresius, and Francis Turretin did not cease to assail him and by instigation of the last named, the belief of immediate imputation was settled as an article of faith, by the church of Geneva, in the year 1675. See Weismann's Historia Eccles, sæc. xvii. p. 919. Schl.] 5 See Christ. Eberh. Weismann's Hist. Eccles. sæc. xvii. p. 817. able; or from spreading, through them, into other countries. In the number of those who were disposed to gratify the papists at the expense of the religion of their fathers, many have placed Lewis Cappel, another divine of Saumur; who, in a long and elaborate work, attempted to prove that the Hebrew vowel points were not inserted by the inspired writers, but were added in more recent times. This indeed is certain, that his opinion pleased the Romanists, who thought it very useful to weaken the authority of the sacred Scriptures, and depress them below the unwritten word." It was, therefore, the more earnestly and learnedly opposed by great numbers of the best Hebraists, both among the Lutherans and the Reformed. § 16. All these divines, though they incurred much odium, yet obtained the approbation of very many, and have been pronounced uncensurable by the candour of subsequent times: but those were less fortunate, who have been already men tioned, as openly meditating a union of the French Reformed church with that subject to Romish sway; and likewise those who attempted so to explain or shape theology as would render the transition to the Romish party shorter and more easy. To this class belonged Lewis le Blanc, a divine of Sedan, and Claude Pajon, a minister at Orleans; both of whom were eloquent, and men of great penertation. The former, with great perspicuity, so treated various controversies which divide the protestants from the papists, as to show that some of them were mere contests about words, and that others were of much less importance than was commonly supposed." Hence he is much censured to this day by those who think that great care should be taken, lest, by filing down and lessening too much the causes of disagreement, the truth should be exposed to danger. 10 This acute man left behind him a sect, which, however, being very odious to most persons, either conceals, or very cautiously states its real sentiments. § 17. Claude Pajon appeared to explain and to adulterate In his Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum; which, with his Vindicia, may be found in his works, Amsterd. 1689, fol. and in the Critica Sacra Vet. Test. Paris, 1650, fol. well worth reading. The copy before me was printed at London, 1675, fol., but there has been a number of editions of them. 10 See Peter Bayle, Dictionnaire, tom. i. article Beaulieu, p. 458, &c. [His whole name was Lewis le Blanc, Sieur de Beaulieu. See the notice of him, above notes, p. 72. Tr.] |