3. On the third article they held," That true faith cannot proceed from the exercise of our natural faculties and powers, nor from the force and operation of free will; since man, in consequence of his natural corruption, is incapable either of thinking or doing any good thing: and that therefore it is necessary to his conversion and salvation, that he be regenerated and renewed by the operation of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ."* 4. On the fourth, they believed,—“ That divine grace, or the energy of the Holy Ghost, begins and perfects every thing that can be called good in man, and consequently all good works are to be attributed to God alone;-that, nevertheless, this grace is offered to all, and does not force men to act against their inclinations, but *So Drs. Heylin and Mosheim, &c.; and this doctrine seems to correspond with what Arminius himself maintains in his Declaration, and in his Public Disputations, Thesis 7, &c. But if this be the Arminian doctrine, is it not at the same time that of the Calvinists? And if so, whence could the subject of this article have become a ground of dispute, in the Synod of Dort?—I have not yet seen this point cleared up to my mind, and still desire farther satisfaction. This article, (as held, I presume, by many later Armimians,) is thus expressed by Dr. Gregory and others,"That mankind are not totally depraved, and that depravi ty does not come upon them by virtue of Adam's being their public head; but that mortality and natural evil only are the direct consequences of his sin to posterity." may be resisted and rendered ineffectual by the perverse will of the impenitent sinner.”* 5. And, on the fifth,-"That God gives to the truly faithful who are regenerated by his grace, the the means of preserving themselves in this state;" and though the first Arminians had some doubt with respect to the closing part of this article, their followers uniformly maintain, "that the regenerate may lose true justifying faith-fall from a state of grace, and die in their sins."+ Thus, the followers of Arminius believe that God, having an equal regard for all his creatures, sent his Son to die for the sins, not of the elect only, but of the whole world;-that no mortal is rendered finally unhappy by an eternal and invincible decree, but that the misery of those that perish comes from themselves; and,—that in this present imperfect state, believers, if not peculiarly vigilant, may, through the force of temptation, and the influence of Satan, fall from grace, and sink into final perdition. These sentiments they found "on the expressions of our Saviour, respecting his willingness to * This article, as well as the former, is interpreted by some modern Arminians with a greater latitude. †These five articles are thus briefly expressed by Lampe in his Synopis Hist. Sacra,-" Prædestinationis decretum non esse absolutum-meritum Christi esse universale :liberum arbitrium non prædeterminari :—gratiæ operationem in conversione non esse irresistibilem :-vere fideles posse verâ fide excidere." save all that come unto him;-especially on his prayer over Jerusalem;-on his sermon on the mount; and above all,-on his delineation of the process of the last day, where the salvation of men is not said to have been procured by any decree, but because "they had done the will of their Father, who is in heaven." This last argument they deem decisive, because it cannot be supposed that our Lord, in the account of the judgment day, would have deceived them. They also say, "that the terms respecting Election in the Epistle to the Romans, are applicable only to the state of the Jews as a body, without any reference to the religious condition of individuals, either in this world, or the next." * But as the Arminians are not authoritatively bound to adhere closely to these articles, or indeed to any particular form of confession, much misconception seems to exist on the subject of the Arminian doctrine. Yet nothing but mere prejudice, or the grossest ignorance, can lead any to confound it with that of Socinus, or even with that of Pelagius; and of course to associate its professors with Pelagians and Socinians, as is not unfrequently done by many Calvinists and others, from whom better things might be expected. For this system, which maintains the doctrine of human depravity-salvation by Christ-justification by faith, and sanctification by the Holy Spirit, stands on very different grounds from that of either the Pelagians or Semi-Pelagians. It may, *Mr. Evans's Sketch. notwithstanding, be admitted, that there have not been wanting some who have sheltered their Pelagian, nor others perhaps even their Socinian, errors, under the name of Arminianism. See a Confession of Faith, drawn up by Episcopius, and expressed for the most part in words and phrases of Holy Scripture, which the Arminians have generally adopted, though it is not enjoined upon them by any law or authoritative obligation. See also Bishop Burnet's Exposition of the 17th Article of the Church of England, and Dr. Heylin's Hist. Quinquarticularis, or History of the Five Points, more particularly of their reception and progress in England.* WORSHIP AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT."The external forms of divine worship and eccle * The theological student will also find the Arminian system and principles still more fully detailed in Curcellai Opera, fol. 1675. Binchii Mellificium Theologicum, 4to, 1657. Episcopii Opera, 2 vols. fol. 1660. Limborch Theol. Christiana, fol. 1695. Bishop Bull's Harmonia Apostolica, and Le Blanc's Theses Theol. fol. 1683; which last work seems to hold the balance even between the Arminian and Calvinistic doctrine. The works of Arminius were collected and published at Franckfort, A. D. 1631 and 1634, in one vol. 4to.; but a pretty just and accurate notion of his doctrine and character may be formed from his Disputationes Publica et Private. Lugd. 1610, &c. The most ample account of his life is given by Brandt, in his Hist. Vitæ Jac. Arminii, Leyd. 8vo. 1724.-See Dr. Mosheim's edit. of this work at Brunswick, 1725. siastical government in the Arminian Church, are almost the same with those that are in use among the Presbyterians. As, however, the leading men among the Arminians are peculiarly ambitious of maintaining their correspondence and fraternal intercourse with the Church of England, and leave no circumstance unimproved that may tend to confirm this union; so they discover, upon all occasions, their approbation of the Episcopal form of ecclesiastical government, and profess to regard it as most ancient, as truly sacred, and as superior to all other institutions of Church polity."* COUNTRIES WHERE FOUND-EMINENT MEN -WRITERS PRO AND CON., &c.-The Arminians are still a distinct sect from the establishment in the United Provinces; where, says Mosheim, they have thirty-four congregations more or less numerous, which are furnished with eighty-four pastors. Besides these, their church at Frederickstadt, in the Duchy of Holstein, still subsists.† * Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. v. p. 465. This language of Dr. M. seems to insinuate, that the Arminians are not very sincere in these professions; and there is no doubt some ground for such an insinuation, if they do not universally adopt, and adhere to, what they thus profess to approve and admire. ↑ While, after the Synod of Dort, many Arminians retired to Antwerp, and others fled to France, &c. a considerable number, accepting the invitation sent to them by Frederick, Duke of Holstein, formed a colony, which settled in the dominions of that prince, and built for themselves a handsome town in South Jutland, on the Eyder, which they |