XII. 2
Grotius’s Religious Sentiments.
CHAP. XII.
To the milder form of Arminianism, Grotius always inclined. During his embassy in France, he adopted it without reserve. He was soon disgusted with the French Calvinists. The ministers of Charenton accepted the decisions of the Synod of Dort, and, in conformity with them, refused, when Grotius repaired to Paris, after his escape from Louvestein, to admit him into their communion. On his arrival at Paris, in quality of ambassador, they offered to receive him: Grotius expressed pleasure at the proposal; and, intimated to them, that if he should go into any country, in which the Lutherans, knowing his sentiments on the sacrament of our Lord’s Supper, should be willing to receive him into their communion, he would make no difficulty in joining them. Thus every thing appeared to be settled; but the ministers then objected to receive Grotius as ambassador from Sweden, because that kingdom was Lutheran. Grotius, upon this, resolved to have the divine service performed in his house. Lutherans publicly attended it. “We have celebrated,” he writes to his brother, “the Feast of the Nativity in my house: the Duke of Wirtemberg, the Count de Saxenburgh, and several Swedish and German lords, attended at it.” His first chaplain was imprudent, his second gave him great satisfaction.
XII. 2. Grotius’ Religious Sentiments.
Burigni has collected, in the last chapter of his Life of Grotius, a multitude of passages, which shew his gradual leaning to the Roman Catholic faith. He produces several passages from his works, which prove,-
That he paid high regard to decisions of the councils, and the discipline of the primitive church; and thought the sentiments of the antient church should be deferred to, in the explanation of the Scriptures:
That, the early reformers were held by him in no great esteem:048
That, mentioning Casaubon’s sentiments, Grotius said that this learned man thought the Roman Catholics of France better informed than those of other countries, and came nearer to truth than the ministers of Charenton:-
“It cannot,” says Grotius, “be denied, that there are several Roman Catholic pastors here, who teach true religion, without any mixture of superstition; it were to be wished that all did the same:”
That the Calvinists were schismatics, and had no mission:
CHAP. XII.
That the Jesuits were learned men and good subjects. “I know many of them,” he says, in one of his writings against Rivetus, “who are very desirous to see abuses abolished, and the church restored to its primitive unity.”-We shall hereafter see that Father Petâu, an illustrious member of the society, possessed the confidence of Grotius:
That, Grotius looked upon the abolition of episcopacy and of a visible head of the church, as something very monstrous:
That, he acknowledged that some change was made in the eucharistic bread; that, when Jesus Christ, being sacramentally present, favours us with his substance,-as the Council of Trent expresses its doctrine on the Eucharist,-the appearances of bread and wine remain, and in their place succeed the body and blood of Christ:
XII. 2. Grotius’s Religious Sentiments.
That, Grotius did not approve of the sentiments of the Calvinists concerning the Eucharist, and reproached them with their contradiction.
“You will hear them state in their confessions,” says Grotius, “that they really, substantially and essentially partake of Christ’s body and his blood; but, in their disputes, they maintain that Christ is received only spiritually, by faith. The antients go much further: they admit a real incorporation of Jesus Christ with us, and the reality of Christ’s body, as Saint Hilarius speaks.”
It must however be remarked that, although Grotius thought that the term Transubstantiation adopted by the council of Trent, was capable of a good interpretation, it is not clear, what was his precise opinion respecting the Eucharist. He proposed the following formulary:
“We believe that, in the use of the supper, we truly, really, and substantially,-that is to say,-in its proper substance,-receive the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ, in a spiritual and ineffable manner: ”
That, Grotius justified the decision of the Council of Trent, concerning the number of the sacraments:
That, after the year 1640, he took no offence at the use of images in churches, or at prayers for the dead:
That, he thought the bishops of Rome may be in error, but cannot long remain in it, if they adhere to the universal church;-this seems to presuppose the church’s infallibility:
CHAP. XII.
That in the opinion of Grotius; fasting was early used in the church; the observance of Lent was a very early practice: the sign of the cross had something respectable in it; the fathers held virginity a more perfect state than marriage; and the celibacy of the priests conformable to the antient discipline of the church:
And
“that those, who shall read the decrees of the Council of Trent, with a mind disposed to peace, will find that every thing is wisely explained in them: and agreeable to what is taught by the Scriptures and the antient fathers.”
It is certain, that Grotius was intimate with Father Petâu, 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
XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.
As the religion of Grotius was a problem to many, Menâge 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, Athenæ,
Siderei certant vatis de patriâ Homeri:
Grotiadæ certant de religione, Socinus,
Arrius, Arminius, Calvinus, Roma, Lutherus.