who, in the milder spirit of Lutheranism, strove to moderate the rage of Calvinistic enthusiasm, was openly denounced by its partisans; and one, named Gaspard Koolhaas, was actually excommunicated by a synod, and denounced in plain terms to the devil.  Arminius had been appointed professor at Leyden in 1603, for the mildness of his doctrines, which were joined to most affable manners, a happy temper, and a purity of conduct which no calumny could successfully traduce.

His colleague Gomar, a native of Bruges, learned, violent, and rigid in sectarian points, soon became jealous of the more popular professor’s influence.  A furious attack on the latter was answered by recrimination; and the whole battery of theological authorities was reciprocally discharged by one or other of the disputants.  The states-general interfered between them:  they were summoned to appear before the council of state; and grave politicians listened for hours to the dispute.  Arminius obtained the advantage, by the apparent reasonableness of his creed, and the gentleness and moderation of his conduct.  He was meek, while Gomar was furious; and many of the listeners declared that they would rather die with the charity of the former than in the faith of the latter.  A second hearing was allowed them before the states of Holland.  Again Arminius took the lead; and the controversy went on unceasingly, till this amiable man, worn out by his exertions and the presentiment of the evil which these disputes were engendering for his country, expired in his forty-ninth year, piously persisting in his opinions.

The Gomarists now loudly called for a national synod, to regulate the points of faith.  The Arminians remonstrated on various grounds, and thus acquired the name of Remonstrants, by which they were soon generally distinguished.  The most deplorable contests ensued.  Serious riots occurred in several of the towns of Holland; and James I. of England could not resist the temptation of entering the polemical lists, as a champion of orthodoxy and a decided Gomarist.  His hostility was chiefly directed against Vorstius, the successor and disciple of Arminius.  He pretty strongly recommended to the states-general to have him burned for heresy.  His inveterate intolerance knew no bounds; and it completed the melancholy picture of absurdity which the whole affair presents to reasonable minds.

In this dispute, which occupied and agitated all, it was impossible that Barneveldt should not choose the congenial temperance and toleration of Arminius.  Maurice, with probably no distinct conviction or much interest in the abstract differences on either side, joined the Gomarists.  His motives were purely temporal; for the party he espoused was now decidedly as much political as religious.  King James rewarded him by conferring on him the ribbon of the Order of the Garter, vacant by the death of Henry IV. of France.  The ceremony of investment was performed with great pomp by the English ambassador at The Hague; and James and Maurice entered from that time into a closer and more uninterrupted correspondence than before.