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forms of expression which are taken from the word of God, and are agreeable to the Scriptures, are the bonds of church union, the marks of orthodoxy, the bars of heresy, and the limits of wanton wits; as though they were the remains of the Babylonish tower, in the construction of which men were obliged to think and speak alike in religion.

Let no one choose for himself a guide out of the modern divines; all whose dictates he is determined to receive and defend as celestial oracles; as one who is given as 66 a new teacher and light of the world," as the ancients said of Basilius; and in comparison of whom all others appear as little children or dwarfs; when he himself perhaps protests, that he would not be thought the author of any thing new, and made the head of a sect. On the other hand, let no one despise such a man, as if nothing true or good, nothing useful to the understanding of the Scriptures, could be learned from him; for God has not put it into the heart of any pious persons to search the Scriptures night and day, without opening to them those treasures of his sacred wisdom.

Let us preach the good tidings of the Gospel; let us congratulate the church on account of them, and make the best use of them ourselves we can. Let no one who has in general expressed the truth in eloquent language, be heinously censured on account of an improper word or harsh expression which has slipped from his pen: "Poison does not lie hidden in syllables; nor does truth consist in sound, but in the intention; nor godliness in the tinkling of brass, but in the meaning of the things signified." Yet, let us all endeavour to express ourselves as accurately as possible, and not take upon us to defend what has been imprudently said by our friends or ourselves, lest others blame us for it; but as far as ingenuousness, truth, charity, and all good men will allow of it, let us pass by, cancel, or correct

any mistakes; which has been the practice of some great men, both amongst the ancients and moderns, to their very great credit. Let none of our brethren be stigmatized with the brand of heresy, on account of what is supposed to follow from any of their expressions, when they themselves deny and detest the consequence. Solid learning, manners conformable to Christian sanctity, a peaceable disposition, and a faithful discharge of our duty without noise and confusion, will procure favour much more than inconsiderate warm zeal, and the violent efforts of a passionate mind; which are designed, for the most part, to heighten our own glory and seeming importance, though the cause of God be made the pretence for them.

Let some liberty also be given to learned men, in explaining texts of Scripture, in the choice of arguments for the defence of the common truth, in the use of phrases and terms, and in resolving problematic questions (for in this our state of darkness it is not to be expected that all men should think and speak alike); but let this liberty be confined within the bounds of modesty, prudence, and love; lest it degenerate into petulant licentiousness, and turn our Zion into a Babel.

These, reverend and learned Sirs, are my earnest wishes; these my sentiments, which I recommend to your prudence, faith, and piety; as I do yourselves and your pious labours, to the grace of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; "who can make you perfect to every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight;" and at last, when you have fought the good fight of faith, can bless you with an everlasting crown of glory. This was long since, and is now, the most earnest wish of,

Utrecht, Oct. 20, 1693.

Reverend and learned Sirs,

Your fellow-labourer, and
Servant in the Lord,
H. WITSIUS.

THE LIFE

OF

THE AUTHOR.

HERMAN WITS (or, as he is commonly called, Witsius) was descended from reputable parents. His father, Nicolaus Wits, was a gentleman universally esteemed by his fellow-citizens at Enkhuysen, to whom he endeared himself by his fidelity, modesty, justice, benevolence, and unaffected piety, in every character he sustained, either in the church or in the city; for in the former he was first a deacon, and afterwards a ruling elder, and treasurer in the latter. His mother was Johanna, a gentlewoman of great piety and prudence, the daughter of Herman Gerhard; who, after many dangers and distresses, obtained a calm and secure settlement in the church at Enkhuysen; where he preached the gospel for upwards of thirty years, with great reputation; and such was the affection he bore to his church, that he rejected the most profitable offers that were made to him.

The parents of our Witsius, having vowed to devote a child to the ministry, did, upon the birth of this son, call him after his grandfather, praying that in Herman, the grandson, might be revived the spirit of the grandfather; and that, endued with equal, if not superior talents, he might imitate his example.

Herman Witsius was born on the 12th of February, 1636, at Enkhuysen, a town of West Friesland; one of the first that threw off the Spanish yoke, asserted their own liberty, and, once enlightened with the truths of the gospel, retained the purity of

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worship ever after, and in the very worst times of Arminianism, continued, above many, stedfast in the faith. And though it was a place noted for trade and navigation, yet it produced men famous in every branch of literature. So that Witsius, even in his native place, had illustrious patterns to copy after.

The care which these pious parents took of young Witsius during his tender infancy, was not intermitted as he began to grow; for, being still mindful of their vow, they brought him up in a very pious manner, instructing him in the principles and precepts of religion and Christian piety. In his sixth year they sent him to the public school of the town, to learn the rudiments of the Latin tongue; from which, after spending three years, and being advanced to the highest form there, his maternal uncle, Peter Gerhard, a person well skilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and philosophy, took him under his own private and domestic tuition. The uncle, whose principal study had been divinity, disengaged from all public business, and being as fond of his nephew as if he had been his own son, taught him with that assiduity, that before he was fifteen he made no small proficiency in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and acquired such knowledge in logic and other parts of philosophy, that, when he was afterwards removed to the university, he could study without a master. At the same time he learned the ethic compendiums of Wallæus and Burgersdicius, with so much care, as to be able to repeat most of the sentences very frequent in Burgersdicius, from the ancients, both Greek and Latin. He also perused his elements of physics, and dipped a little into metaphysical subtleties; and committed to memory most of the theological definitions and distinctions from Wendelin. As his uncle was a man of exemplary piety, and was wont to apply almost to every common occurrence of life some striking passages of both Testaments, which he often repeated, either in Hebrew or Greek, while rising, dressing, walking, studying, or otherwise employed; so, by his example and admonitions, he stirred up his nephew to the same practice. Whence it was, that at those tender years he had rendered familiar to himself many entire passages of the Hebrew and Greek Testament, which he was far from forgetting when more advanced in life.

Being thus formed by a private education, in 1651, and the

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