The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius Part 26

He printed at the same time his treatise _Of Faith and Works_ against Desmarets, and against the error of the inadmissibility of grace, under the t.i.tle of _Explicatio trium ill.u.s.trissimorum locorum Novi Testamenti, Capitis I. Pauli ad Ephesios posterioris, Capitis II. Jacobi Commatis XIV. & sequentium, Capitis III. Epistolae I. Johannis, in quibus agitur de fide & operibus_. This work shews, that faith is not sufficient for Justification; and that if those who have faith live in sin, they are hated by G.o.d.

_Via ad pacem ecclesiasticam_ was printed in 1642: it contains the _Consultation_ of Ca.s.sander presented to the Emperors Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II. accompanied with remarks by Grotius. He expected that these works, which were compiled solely with a view to promote union among Christians, would procure him many enemies; and he adopted, on this occasion, what was said in 1557 by an author who laboured in the same design, That for persons to endeavour to make mankind live in peace, was commendable; that they might indeed expect a recompence from the blessed Peace-maker, but they had great reason to apprehend the same fate with those, who, attempting to part two combatants, receive blows from both. "Perhaps, by writing to reconcile such as entertain very opposite sentiments, I shall offend both parties: but if it should so happen, I shall comfort myself with the example of him who said, If I please men I am not the servant of Christ."

Grotius, content with gratifying his pacific desires, expected his reward from posterity; which he clearly intimates in some verses written by him on this subject

Accipe sed placidis, quae si non optima, certe, Expressit n.o.bis non mala pacis amor.

Et tibi dic, nostro labor hic si displicet aevo, A grata pretium posteritate feret.

Rivetus, the Clergyman, treated Grotius with as much indignity, as if he had attempted to destroy the foundations or Christianity. Grotius answered him in a tract, ent.i.tled: _Animadversiones in animadversiones Andreae Riveti_.

This work was followed by two others on the same subject: _Votum pro pace ecclesiastica, contra examen Andreae Riveti_, and _Rivetiani Apologetici Discussio_: this last did not appear till after the author's death.

He wrote, in 1638, a small piece, ent.i.tled: _De Canae administratione ubi Pastores non sunt, item an semper communicandum per symbola_. The design of this pernicious work is to shew, that Laymen, in the absence of Priests, and in cases of necessity, may do their office.

Rigaut had already maintained this error, and been smartly attacked by M. De l'Aubepine, Bishop of Orleans: all the defenders of the hierarchy were scandalized at it, and Father Petau, among the Roman Catholics, and Dodwell, among the English Clergy, have refuted it.

In the tract, _An semper communicandum per symbola_, the Arminians endeavour to maintain, that we are not obliged to communicate with such as require subscriptions to which we cannot a.s.sent without acting against our consciences. Grotius's design was to shew, that the Arminians might dispense with communicating with the Contra-Remonstrants, if these insisted on retractions.

Another theological work of Grotius (of whose publication we cannot fix the time) is ent.i.tled: _Dissertatio historica ac politica de dogmatis & ritibus & gubernatione Ecclesiae Christianae, de dogmatis quae reipublicae noxia sunt, aut dic.u.n.tur._ In this piece he treats of the end of the priesthood, and the duties of the Priests: he places what relates to the distinction and unity of the three Persons, the two Natures, and their properties, among the points of which we may be ignorant without ceasing to be good Christians. It is probable this piece was written before those concerning Antichrist, the author appearing in it less favourably disposed towards the Roman Catholics and the Pope.

It is apparent that Grotius had not sufficiently examined this subject, since he speaks of it in a manner so heterodox. He would not have held a language so opposite to Christianity, at, or after the time of his dispute with Rivetus.

FOOTNOTES:

[526] Ep. 416. p. 874.

[527] Ep. 477. p. 890.

[528] Ep. 480. p. 891. & 482. p. 891.

[529] Ep. 485. p. 892.

[530] Ep. 445. p. 895. 507. p. 901. 511. p. 902. & 514. p. 904.

[531] Ep 61. p. 276. & 89. p. 415.

XIII. Grotius, even whilst engaged in the dispute against the zealous Protestant Ministers, undertook to clear up the origin of the Americans; which enquiry involved him in a controversy that gave him much uneasiness. John de Laet of Antwerp, who had much studied these matters, printed Grotius's work, with Notes, under this t.i.tle: _Joannis de Laet Antverpiani Notae ad dissertationem Hugonis Grotii de Origine gentium Americanarum, & Observationes aliquot ad meliorem indaginem difficillimae illius questionis. Amstelodami apud Ludovic.u.m Elzevirium, anno 1643_[532].

Grotius first confutes those, who think that the people of America came from Great Tartary, because they had no horses before the Spanish conquest, and that it is impossible the Scythians, who abounded in horses, should bring none with them; besides the Tartars were never seamen. His opinion is, that North-America was peopled by persons from Norway, from whence they pa.s.sed into Iceland, afterwards into Greenland, from thence to Friseland, then to Estotiland, a part of the American continent, to which the fishers of Friseland had penetrated two centuries before the Spaniards discovered the New World. He pretends, that the names of those countries end with the same syllables as those of the Norwegians; that the Mexicans and their neighbours a.s.sured the Spaniards they came from the North; and that the country which the Norwegians inhabited, after quitting Estotiland, has retained almost the name of Norway; that there is yet a town in it called Norembega; in fine, that there are many words in the American language, which have a relation to the German and Norwegian; and that the Americans still preserve the customs of the country from whence they are originally sprung. As to the people of Jucatan, and the neighbourhood, Grotius makes them come from Ethiopia by the way of the Ocean. He grounds this opinion on the practice of circ.u.mcision among these nations of America, which was also used by the Ethiopians. He pretends that the Peruvians are descended from the Chinese, because the wrecks of Chinese vessels have been found, he says, on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, and they wors.h.i.+p the sun: besides, the Peruvians, he adds, write from the top to the bottom of the page like the Chinese.

Laet easily shewed that Grotius's conjectures were ill founded, and that he had even advanced several facts which were not strictly true: he denied the existence of the city of Norembega, and maintained that Jucatan is too distant from Africa for the Ethiopians to penetrate into America, it being at least two months sail from Ethiopia to Jucatan. He refutes the pretended traces of Christianity, which Grotius said were found in that part of America before the discovery of the Spaniards, supporting his confutation on the authority of Spanish writers; in fine, he denies that any Chinese wrecks have been found on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, and censures, as a very great inaccuracy in Grotius, what he advances concerning the Peruvian manner of writing.

After doing justice to the excellent judgment and profound erudition of Grotius, he ventures to a.s.sert, that he found nothing in his Dissertation that could satisfy a man moderately acquainted with the History of America; and approves of what was observed by Joseph Acosta, that it was easier to confute what was written on the origin of the Americans, than to know what to hold; because there were no monuments among them, nor any books of Europeans to throw light on this matter: and hence concludes, that it is rashness to promise truth on such an obscure subject.

Laet's answer vexed Grotius: he replied to it in a second Dissertation, ent.i.tled, _Adversus obtrectatorem, opaca quem bonum facit barba_.

Printed at Paris by Cramoisi, in 1643. Laet answered in a piece, printed in 1644, by Lewis Elzevir, in which he inserts Grotius's second Dissertation. There is nothing new in these two last books: and it were to be wished that they had been written with less bitterness. It has been[533] observed, that Grotius's system is not new; and that it had been already advanced by Myl, whom Grotius does not once quote.

FOOTNOTES:

[532] This work was printed at Paris the same year.

[533] Hornius, de Orig. Gent. Amer. l. 1. c. 2. p. 17.

XIV. It now remains to give some account of the other works of Grotius, which hitherto we have not had occasion to mention. In 1629, he printed at William Blaeu's the History of the Siege of Grolla: _Grollae obsidio c.u.m annexis anni 1627_. This piece would have been brought into his History[534] if he could have continued it. He speaks of it with great modesty[535] in his letters to his brother. "I don't expect, he says, much honour from such a small tract."

He published, in 1631, _An Introduction to the Laws of Holland_, in Dutch. Simon Groenovegius de Madin, a Lawyer, wrote Notes on this work, which Grotius thought well done and very useful; and sent the author a letter of thanks[536].

He left several ma.n.u.scripts prepared for the press, which were published after his death.

Lewis Elzevir printed, in 1652, a small collection in twelves with this t.i.tle: _Hugonis Grotii quaedam hactenus inedita, aliaque ex Belgice editis Latine versa, argumenti Theologici, Juridici, Politici._ It contains, among other Dissertations, _Remarks on the Philosophy_ or rather _on the Politics of Campanella_; and a tract ent.i.tled: _Hugonis Grotii Responsio ad quaedam ab utroque judic.u.m consessu objecta, ubi multa disputantur de Jure Summarum Potestatum in Hollandia, Westfrisi[^ae], & Magistratuum in oppidis_. The disputes of the Province of Holland with the States-General probably gave occasion to this treatise. Grotius intended to publish the Golden verses of Pythagoras[537], with a translation by himself: but what he could not do in his life-time was done in England after his death, in the year 1654[538].

Of all the tragic Poets, his favourite was certainly Euripides. We have already seen that he translated the _Phoenissae_ in 1630. He afterwards revised and corrected it, as appears by a letter to his brother, September 3, 1639[539]. His translation of the _Iphigenia in Tauris_ is mentioned in several letters[540]. He likewise turned into Latin the _Supplicantes_ of Euripides, of which he speaks to his brother[541]. The learned Father Berthier[542] has lately informed us, that this translation still exists in the library of the Jesuits college at Paris.

"One of the most precious pieces, and which alone would have been sufficient to give value to this ma.n.u.script, is the entire translation of Euripides's piece, ent.i.tled _Supplicantes_, added at the end of the volume by way of desert: the whole is in excellent Iambic verses: we would cite some part, if we had not already trespa.s.sed too far on the complaisance of the reader."

In 1629, Grotius wrote to his brother[543], that he had finished a piece, proving that the war between different Princes ought not to injure the free trade of the powers not engaged in it. This is all we know of the treatise, which is now lost: we are equally ignorant of a work, ent.i.tled, _The Portrait of Zeno_, which he mentions in several letters[544], and seems very desirous of having it printed. He left several ma.n.u.scripts in his closet, which, after his death, were purchased by the Queen of Sweden from his wife: among these[545] were, _Notes on some of the most difficult Laws_; _A Comparison of the Republics of Athens and Rome with that of Holland_; _Notes on the Hymns of Orpheus_, and an _Ill.u.s.tration of the Books of Moses by the Writings of the Pagans_. The author of _Vindiciae Grotianae_[546] speaks of a ma.n.u.script of aeschylus with Notes by Grotius. Many of his books were filled with marginal notes. He tells us[547], that he had collected, with great care, the remains of the apostolical Fathers, and that he had thoughts of translating that part of Josephus's history, which relates to the law, and of adding notes to it. But probably the execution of this project was hindered by his other studies, and the information he received, that Samuel Pet.i.t, who was well skilled in the learned languages, had the same design.

FOOTNOTES:

[534] Ep. 191. p. 811.

[535] Ep. 194. p. 814. & 196, p. 113.

[536] Ep. 1627. p. 719.

[537] Ep. 683. p. 961.

[538] Fab. Bib. Graec. tom. 1. p. 471. & 472.

[539] Ep. 506. p. 885.

[540] Ep. 402; p. 869. & 595. p. 236.

[541] Ep. 683. p. 961.

[542] Art. 91. August, 1751. p. 1807.

[543] Ep. 207. p. 817.

[544] Ep. 465. & 466. p. 886. Ep. 469. p. 887.

[545] Observat. Hallenses, 24. t. 7. p. 350. Bib. Remons. p. 80.

Fabricius Bib. Graeca, t. 1. l. 1. c. 19, p. 117.

[546] Vindiciae, p. 841.

[547] Ep. 391. p. 866. & 768. p. 330.