“Grotius’s work is the first, in which we find the characteristics of just reasoning, accuracy, and strength:  he is extremely concise; but even this brevity will please us, when we find his work comprehends so many things, without confounding them or lessening their evidence or force.  It is no wonder that the book should be translated into so many languages.”

The best edition of it is that published by Le Clerc,[036] in 1709 at Amsterdam, in 8vo.  To this edition, Le Clerc has added a curious dissertation on religious indifference.  He presumes that the supposed indifference is persuaded of the authenticity of the New Testament:—­He then (says Le Clerc) must ascertain,—­

    1.  Which are the denominations of religionists which avow their
    belief of it: 

    2.  Which of these are most worthy of the name of Christians: 

    3.  And which profess the Christian religion in most purity and with
    least extraneous alloy: 

    4.  He will find, that all Christians agree in the fundamental
    articles of faith: 

    5.  That all these articles are clearly expressed in the New
    Testament: 

    6.  That no tenet should be believed to be of faith, unless the New
    Testament contains it.

    7.  That the providence of God is admirable in the preservation of
    these tenets, amidst the confused multitude of religious opinions,
    which have prevailed in the world: 

    8.  That this confusion was foreseen by God: 

    9.  That he permitted it as a consequence of his gift of free-will
    to man: 

    10.  That the inquirer should aggregate himself to that religious
    communion, which receives the New Testament as its only rule of
    faith, and does not persecute others: 

    11.  That episcopacy without tyranny is the most antient form of
    ecclesiastical government, and most to be desired; but that it is
    not essential to a Christian church: 

    12.  That these were the opinions of Grotius: 

    13.  Finally, that it is greatly to be desired that a belief of no
    dogma, not explicitly propounded in the New Testament, should be
    required.

Such is the religious system propounded by Le Clerc.—­Does any religious communion really profess it?—­Many Protestant churches declare, that the Bible, and the Bible only, contains their creed:  but, do they not all mean by this—­the Bible, as it is explained by the Articles, the Formulary, or the Confession received by their church?

X. 4.

Grotius’s Treatise De Jure summarum potestatum circa sacra.—­And, Commentatio ad loca quaedam Novi Testamenti, quae de Antichristo agunt, aut agere putantur.

Nothing in the life of Grotius places him in a more amiable or respectable point of view, than his constant attempts to put Catholics and Protestants into good humour with each other, and to put both into good humour among themselves.