ne too far; the love of antiquity perhaps seduced him:
no Remonstrant, that I know of, has as yet answered him; but he has
been confuted by some learned Calvinists, particularly Desmonets,
minister of Bois le duc, who has written against him with much
bitterness.'

"Grotius's work was printed in 1640, with this title: _Commentatio
ad loca quaedam Novi Testamenti, quae de Antichristo agunt aut agere
putantur:--Expedenda eruditis."_[037]

X.5.

_His Commentary on the Scriptures._

[Sidenote: X. 5. His Commentary on the Scriptures.]

The theological works of Grotius are comprised in four volumes folio:
the three first contain his Commentary, and Notes upon the Scriptures.
On their merit, both Catholics and Protestants considerably differ. All
allow that an abundance of sacred and profane learning is displayed in
them; and that Grotius, by his references to the writings of the Rabbis,
and his remarks upon the idiom of the sacred writings, has happily
elucidated a multitude of passages in the text. He uniformly adopts the
literal and obvious signification of the language used by the holy
penmen. In explaining the predictions of the prophets, he maintains that
they referred to events anterior to the coming of Christ, and were
accomplished in these; so that the natural and obvious sense of the
words and phrases, in which they were delivered, does not terminate in
Christ; yet, that in some of the predictions, those particularly, which
the writers of the New Testament apply to Christ, there is, _besides_
the literal and obvious signification, a hidden and mysterious sense,
which lies concealed under the external mark of certain _persons_,
certain _events_, and certain _actions_, which are representative of the
person, the ministry, the sufferings, and the merits of the Son of God.

[Sidenote: CHAP. X. 1621-1634.]

It has been objected, that this system leads to Socinianism, and even
beyond it. All Catholic, and several episcopalian Protestant divines
object to it; they generally contend, that the sacred writings ought
always to be understood in that sense _only_, which has been attributed
to them, by the early fathers.--Against this system, Dr. Whitby
published his celebrated work "Concerning the Interpretation of
Scripture after the manner of the Fathers."[038]

[Sidenote: X. 5. His Commentary on the Scriptures.]

The system of Grotius was defended, to a certain extent, by _Fa