They are also to be found in most countries, and among many denominations of Christians, both in Europe and America.

Ever since the days of Archbishop Laud, i. e. from the time of King Charles the First, by far the greater part of the Clergy of the establishment in England have taken this side of the question, and the term Arminian is applied by many as descriptive of the doctrines of the Church of England. As far as it indicates the rejection of the Calvinistic hypothesis of predestination, reprobation, and particular redemption, by the generality of the members of that church, it is doubtless applied with justice. But if it is used for imputing to the Church of England any approach towards the fundamental errors, into which many eminent Arminians on the continent have fallen since the Synod of Dort, it is by no means applicable; for their theological system underwent a considerable change soon after that period, and embraced many persons whose opinions respecting the person of Christ,-the ne

called by his name, where they still live happy and unmolested, in the open profession and free exercise of their religion. They may also have public schools and a printing office; and one half the number of magistrates must be chosen from among them. The other half are Lutherans. -It does not appear that the Arminians in Holland had gotten into popular favour in Dr. Hammond's time; for he remarks, that when a Dutchman's horse does not go as he would have him, he calls him, in great rage, an Arminian ! For the Arminianism of Geneva, see above p. 254.

cessity of the aid of divine grace, and other fundamental doctrines of Christianity, appear to have fallen far below the standard of the Gospel. So comprehensive is it said to have become, that Christians of all sects and denominations, whatever their sentiments and opinions may be, Papists excepted, may be formed, according to it, into one religious body, and live together in brotherly love and concord. Many who do not belong to the Church of England, and not a few of those who are within her pale, both Clergy and Laity, seem to believe, and warmly contend, on the other hand, that her doctrinal articles and confessional, are strictly Calvinistic: and on this subject, the dispute perhaps never ran higher than it has done of late years.*

The members of the Episcopal Church in Scotland-the Moravians-the General Baptists-the Wesleian Methodists-the Quakers, &c. are Arminians; and it is generally supposed that a great proportion of the Clergy of the Kirk of Scotland teach the Arminian doctrines, although their Confession of Faith is strictly Calvinistic.

Some of the other eminent men and writers among the Arminians, besides those already mentioned, are Vorstius, Grotius, Le Clerk, Cattenburgh, Brandt, Wetstein, Laud, J. Goodwin, and Taylor, not to mention many others of more modern date, as Tillotson, Warburton, Law, &c. &c.

* See the art. United Church of England and Ireland, below.

"It is certain," says Dr. M'Laine "that the most eminent philosophers have been found, generally speaking, among the Arminians. If both Calvinists and Arminians claim a King, it is certain that the latter alone can boast of a Newton, a Locke, a Clarke, and a Boyle."*

The great Archbishop Usher is said to have lived a Calvinist, and died an Arminian. Dr. Whitby also, the celebrated commentator, who was originally a Calvinist, has written a large and elaborate defence of Arminianism; and the reader should consult Dr. Taylor's (of Norwich,) Key to the Epistle to the Romans, which has been much admired on this subject, though, in other respects, it is by no means without its faults. Nor ought Mr. Wesley to be forgotten here, whose labours are well known, and who was a zealous advocate for the tenets of Arminius; see in particular his Arminian Magazine.

Some of the principal writers on the other side have been-Dr. Owen in his Display of Arminianism and on Particular Redemption;-Dr. Gill in his Cause of God and Truth;-Dr. Edwards On the Will, and on Original Sin;-Polwhele in his

* Note (ee) to Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. v. p. 464, 5. An accurate account of the foreign Arminian writers is given by Adrian Van Cattenburgh, in his Bibl. Scriptorum Remonstrantium, 8vo. Amstel. 1728; and for some account of their Confessions of Faith, and the historical writers, who have treated of this sect, vide Jo. Christ. Koecheri Biblioth. Theol. Symbolica, p. 481.

book On the Decrees;-John Edwards in his Veritas Redux ;-Cole in his Sovereignty of God; -and Toplady in almost all his works.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.-The points in dispute between the Arminians and Calvinists have seldom failed to be more or less warmly contested, from the beginning of the 17th century to the present day; nor does the happy period seem yet to be near at hand, when divines shall no longer differ respecting them. Till then, conscious of the weakness of their own understandings, and sensible of the bias which the strongest minds are apt to receive from thinking long in the same track, they ought to differ with charity and meekness, and to pay due regard to the favourite precept of their Lord and Master.

It

The sacred cause of truth can never be promoted by angry controversy or railing accusation. should be vindicated, not only by sound and temperate discussion, but also and especially, by the manifestation of its sanctifying and transforming power over the life and conversation; and by evincing, that the like "mind is in us which was in Christ Jesus our Lord."

ANTINOMIANISM,

AND

ANTINOMIANS.

NAMES.-The Antinomians derive their name from two Greek words, av, signifying against, and vμs, a law; their favourite tenet being, that the law is not a rule of life to believers under the Gospel. But it is not easy to ascertain what they mean by this position, and indeed their very name is ambiguous; it is not so descriptive and confined as Quaker, but rather more vague, like lawless.

They are also sometimes called Solifidians, a term compounded of two Latin words solus, alone, and fides, faith, because they seem to carry the doctrine of faith without works, to such lengths as to separate practical holiness from christian faith, and injure, if not wholly destroy, every obligation to moral obedience.