X. 5
His Commentary on the Scriptures.
X. 5. His Commentary on the Scriptures.
The theological works of Grotius are comprised in four volumes folio: the three first contain his Commentary, and Notes upon the Scriptures. On their merit, both Catholics and Protestants considerably differ. All allow that an abundance of sacred and profane learning is displayed in them; and that Grotius, by his references to the writings of the Rabbis, and his remarks upon the idiom of the sacred writings, has happily elucidated a multitude of passages in the text. He uniformly adopts the literal and obvious signification of the language used by the holy penmen. In explaining the predictions of the prophets, he maintains that they referred to events anterior to the coming of Christ, and were accomplished in these; so that the natural and obvious sense of the words and phrases, in which they were delivered, does not terminate in Christ; yet, that in some of the predictions, those particularly, which the writers of the New Testament apply to Christ, there is, besides the literal and obvious signification, a hidden and mysterious sense, which lies concealed under the external mark of certain persons, certain events, and certain actions, which are representative of the person, the ministry, the sufferings, and the merits of the Son of God.
CHAP. X. 1621-1634.
It has been objected, that this system leads to Socinianism, and even beyond it. All Catholic, and several episcopalian Protestant divines object to it; they generally contend, that the sacred writings ought always to be understood in that sense only, which has been attributed to them, by the early fathers.-Against this system, Dr. Whitby published his celebrated work “Concerning the Interpretation of Scripture after the manner of the Fathers.”038
X. 5. His Commentary on the Scriptures.
The system of Grotius was defended, to a certain extent, by Father Simôn, the oratorian, the father of the modern biblical school. Against both Simôn and Grotius, Bossuet wielded his powerful lance,-in his “Pastoral Instruction on the Works of Father Simôn,” and his “Dissertations upon Grotius.” In these works he says that, during thirty years,
“Grotius searched for truth in good faith, and at last was so near it, that it is wonderful that he did not take the last step, to which God called him. Shocked at Calvin’s harsh doctrines, he embraced Arminianism; then, abandoned it. More a lawyer than a theologian, more a polite scholar than a philosopher, he throws the doctrine of the immortality of the soul into obscurity. He endeavours to weaken and steal from the church, her most powerful proofs of the divinity of the Son of God, and strives to darken the prophecies, which announce the arrival of the Messiah.”
Bossuet proceeds to particularize some of the principal errors of Grotius: Le Clerc replied to the prelate’s criticism, by his Sentimens de quelques Theologiens de la Hollande.-Grotius had also an able advocate in Father Simôn. His defence of Grotius against the charge of semi-Pelagianism, in the Bibliotheque de Sainjore,039 appears to be satisfactory. He cites the note of Grotius, on the Acts of the Apostles, (the celebrated ch. xiii. ver. 38), in which he says expressly that he does not exclude preventive grace: this the semi-Pelagians denied altogether. But in his defence of Grotius against the charge of Socinianism, he is not equally successful. Bossuet sent his Pastoral Instruction, and Dissertations upon Grotius, to the bishop of Fréjus, afterward Cardinal de Fleury: he accompanied them by a letter, which closes with these remarkable words:
“The spirit of incredulity gains ground in the world every day: you have often heard me make this remark. It is now worse than ever, as the Gospel itself is used for the corruption of religion. I thank God that at my age he blesses me with sufficient strength to resist the torrent.”
CHAP. X. 1621-1634.
Dom. Calmet040 calls Grotius,
“one of the most able and moderate Protestant writers: one who spreads throughout his notes a pleasing profusion of profane literature, which causes his works to be sought for and read by those, who have taste for that kind of literature. His high reputation, great erudition, and rare modesty,” says Dom. Calmet, “render it easy for him to insinuate his particular sentiments respecting the divinity of Christ, against which, his readers should be guarded.”