ons in 1618-1619,
pronounced those dogmas by which the Arminians were excluded from the
Dutch church, it established a standard of orthodoxy. In proportion as
the synod gained the favor of the people, the Bible came into use, but
more to serve the cause of polemics than of edification. Hugo Grotius,
Erasmus, and other exegetical writers who had manifested independence in
their interpretation of the Scriptures, were regarded with great
suspicion and distrust. The door for the entrance of scholasticism was
thrown wide open. To use the language of a writer of that day, "The
doctrines were cut after the fashions of Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas,
and Scotus; while the power of the word of God was denied, and the
language of Babel was heard in the streets of Jerusalem." Theologians
made an idle display of learning. Imaginary distinctions, definitions,
and divisions became the food of the youth in schools of every grade,
and of the congregations in all the churches. The books which have come
down to us from that period are weapons against Atheism, Deism,
Socinianism, and every other heresy that had arisen during the history
of Christianity. Whether light was created on the first day; whether it
was an attribute or a substance; whether Adam, after the formation of
Eve, was a rib the worse; whether the knowledge of the unconverted may
be called spiritual knowledge;--these were some of the topics of labored
sermons. It was announced as a most gratifying result of accurate
research that the soul of a boy was created forty days after conception,
while that of a girl required eighty.

There were exceptions to the general sterility of the pulpit and
lecture-room. Alting, professor at Groningen, enjoyed the sobriquet of
"Biblical Theologian," because he made the Scriptures, and not
scholasticism, the basis of his inquiries. Students from foreign lands
flocked to his auditorium, and received the leaven of his earnest and
reverent spirit. Yet his candidates were distrusted, and he had great
trouble in defending himself against repeated charges of heresy.

But another important feature of the prevalent theology was the
corruption of ethics. The doctrines of grace, of which the church of
Holland had always been the defender, left no room for an ethical
system. What the unconverted man does is nothing but sin; all are
equally guilty; and all that we have of good is from God. If we be
disposed to ask, "Does not this view make men careless