The Life of Hugo Grotius Part 16

It is certain, that Grotius was intimate with Father Petau, a Jesuit, inferior to none of his society, in genius and learning; that the good father used all his endeavours to convert Grotius to the Roman Catholic religion; and was, at length, so much persuaded of his friend's catholicity, that, when he heard of his death, he said prayers for the repose of his soul.[060]

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

As the religion of Grotius was a problem to many, Menage wrote the following Epigram upon it: the sense of it is, that--

"As many sects claimed the religion of Grotius, as the towns, which contended for the birth of Homer."

_Smyrna, Rhodos, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenae, Siderei certant vatis de patria Homeri: Grotiadae certant de religione, Socinus, Arrius, Arminius, Calvinus, Roma, Lutherus_.

XII. 3.

_Grotius's Project of Religious Pacification._

A wish for religious peace among Christians grew with the growth and strengthened with the strength of Grotius. It was known, before his imprisonment at Louvestein, that he entertained these sentiments: he avows them in the dedication to Lewis XIII. of his treatise _de Jure Belli et Pacis_.

"I shall never cease," he says in a letter to his brother,[061] "to use my utmost endeavours for establis.h.i.+ng peace among Christians; And, if I should not succeed, it will be honourable to die in such an enterprise." "I am not the only one, who has conceived such projects," he writes in another letter to his brother:[062]

"Erasmus, Ca.s.sander; Wicelius and Casaubon had the same design. La Meletiere is employed at present in it. Cardinal de Richelieu declares that he will protect the coalition; and he is such a fortunate man, that he never undertakes any thing, in which he does not succeed. If there were no hopes of success at present, ought we not to sow the seed, which may he useful to posterity?[063] Even if we should only diminish the mutual hatred among Christians, and render them more sociable, would not this be worth purchasing at the price of some labour and reproaches?"[064]

Grotius expressed himself in similar terms to Baron Oxenstiern: Surely it is the true language of the Gospel.

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

In the first appendix to this work,--we shall insert, an account

"of the Formularies, Confessions of Faith, and Symbolic Books, of the Roman Catholic, Greek, and princ.i.p.al Protestant churches:"--

In the second appendix,--we shall insert an account of the princ.i.p.al attempts made, since the Reformation, for the re-union of Christians.--The former is abridged from the "Historical and Literary Account of the Confessions of Faith," which was formerly published by the present writer;--the second is an essay appended to that work:--both have been before referred to in the present publication.

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

Grotius[065] thought that the most compendious way to produce universal religious peace among Christians, would be to frame, with the concurrence of all the orthodox Eastern and Western churches, a formulary which should express, briefly and explicitly, all the articles of faith, the belief of which they agree in thinking essential to salvation. In a letter addressed from Paris in 1625,[066] he mentions that Gustavus Adolphus had entertained projects of religious pacification, and had taken measures to effect it; that he had procured a meeting of divines of the Lutheran and Reformed churches and that they had separated amicably: Grotius says that the differences between them were as slight as those between the Greek and Coptic churches.

For some time, Grotius flattered himself that he should succeed in his project of pacification. In one of his letters to his brother, he mentions distinguished Protestants, who approved and encouraged them

"I perceive," he says, "that by conversing with men of the most learning among the reformed, and explaining my sentiments to them, they are of my opinion; and that their number will increase, if my treatises are dispersed. I can truly affirm, that I have said nothing in them from party spirit, but followed truth as closely as I could."[067]

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

He imagined that some Catholics entered into his views.

"The ablest men among the Catholics," he thus writes to his brother, "think that what I have published is written with great freedom and moderation, and approve of it."[068]

These pacific projects of Grotius cemented the union between him and Father Petau.

"I had," says that most learned Jesuit, in his 12th Letter, "a great desire to see and converse with Grotius. We have been long together, and very intimate. He is, as far as I can judge, a good man, and possesses great candour. I do not think him far from becoming a Catholic, after the example of Holstenius as you hoped.

I shall neglect nothing in my power to reconcile him to Christ, and put him in the way of salvation."[069]

[Sidenote: His Project of Religious Pacification.]

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

As Grotius lays so much stress on the pacific labours of Erasmus, Wicelius, Ca.s.sander and Casaubon, we shall briefly mention, in the present chapter, the labours of the three first: Casaubon's we shall notice, in the second appendix to this work.

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.] It appears that _Erasmus_ had it in contemplation to compose three dialogues, upon the important subject of religious pacification: the speakers were to have been Luther, under the name of Thrasimacus, and a Catholic divine, under that of Eubolus. In the first dialogue, they were to have discussed the proper methods of terminating the religious controversies of the times; in the second, to have investigated what were the points in controversy, the belief of which was essential to a member of the church of Christ; in the third, they were to have inquired what were the best means to procure a good understanding between the contending parties, and to effect their union.

It is to be lamented that Erasmus did not execute his design. His general sentiments appear in his _Paraphrase upon the 83d Psalm_; they are expressed with great wisdom and moderation.[071]

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

_Wicelius_,--who is next mentioned by Grotius, had been professed in a religious order: had quitted it, and embraced Lutheranism: he afterwards forsook that communion, and returned to the Catholic: upon this, he was appointed to a curacy; and, in the discharge of his functions, obtained general esteem: he was much regarded by the Emperors Ferdinand and Maximilian. In 1537, he published at Leipsic a Latin work, "On the method of procuring Religious Concord,--_Methodus Concordiae Ecclesiasticae_." He addressed it to the pope, to all sovereigns, bishops, doctors, and generally to all christians, exhorting them to peace, and to desist from contention. He a.s.sumed in it, that the true religion had been preserved in the Catholic church; but he allows that modern doctors had involved it in numerous scholastic subtleties, unknown to antiquity. He complains that on one hand the reformers left nothing untouched; that, on the other, the scholastics would retain every abuse, and every superfluity: Wisdom, he thought, lay between them; the reformers should have respected what antiquity consecrated; the Catholics should have abandoned modern doctrines and modern practices to the discretion of individuals.

The "Royal Road," or _Via Regia_ of Wicelius, a still more important work, was published by him at Helmstadt in 1537. Both works were approved, and the perusal of them warmly recommended, by the emperors: they have been often reprinted; they are inserted, with a life of their author, in the second volume of _Brown's Fasciculus_.

"If all the divines of those times," says Father Simon the oratorian,[073] "had possessed the same spirit as Wicelius, the affairs of religion might have taken a different turn."

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

[Sidenote: XII.3. His Project of Religious Pacification]

_Ca.s.sander_, another peacemaker, mentioned with praise by Grotius, is the subject of a long and interesting article in _Dupin's Ecclesiastical History_:[074]

"He was," says Dupin, "solidly learned; and thoroughly versed in ecclesiastical antiquity and the controversies of his own times.

The flaming zeal, which he had for the re-union and peace of the church, made him yield much to the Protestants, and led him to advance some propositions that were too bold. But he always kept in the communion of the Catholic church. He declared that he submitted to its judgments, and openly condemned the authors of the schism and their princ.i.p.al errors. He was a gentle, humble and moderate man; patient under afflictions, and entirely disinterested. In his disputes, he never returned injury for injury; and neither in his manners nor in his writings were presumption or arrogance ever discoverable. He avoided glory, honor, or wealth; and lived private and retired, having no other thought or wish, but to promote the peace of the church; no employment, but study; no business, but to compose books, which might be profitable to the public; and no pa.s.sion, but knowing and teaching the truth."

His character procured him universal respect. The emperor and several Catholic princes in Germany fixed upon him as a mediator in the religious disputes, by which the empire was, at that time, agitated. In conformity with their views he published his celebrated, "_Consultatio de Articulis Religionis inter Catholicos et Protestantes Controversis_."

"In this work," says Mr. Chalmers, "he discusses the several articles of the Augsburgh Confession, stating their difference from the doctrines of the Catholic church, and the concessions that might safely be made in respect to them. This work was written with great liberality, was much applauded by those, who were desirous of a coalition: they were too soon convinced that every attempt of this kind was nugatory. Ca.s.sander presented it to the Emperors Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II. They received it favourably; the former invited Ca.s.sander to Vienna, but his infirmities prevented his accepting the offer."

[Sidenote: CHAP. XII.]

In 1542, Grotius published his "_Road to Religious Peace,--Via ad Pacem Ecclesiasticam_:" he inserted in it Ca.s.sander's "_Consultation_," and accompanied it with notes.

All pacific persons reverenced Grotius, and still reverence his memory, for his attempts to restore the religious peace of Christendom: all the violent condemned him, and opposed his projects. The contradictions, which he met with, chagrined him; so that he sometimes lost that tranquillity of mind, which he had possessed in his deepest adversity.

But, to use his own words, he looked to the blessed Peacemaker for his reward, and trusted that posterity would do justice to its intentions.--

"Perhaps, by writing to reconcile such as entertain very opposite sentiments, I shall," says Grotius, "offend both parties: but, if that 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."