GROTIUS (HUGO DE GROOT). This great man, prominent among the leading writers of the r7th century as a jurist, a. scholar, a statesman, and a theologian, was born at Delft, in Holland, April to, 1583. He was so precocious, that be fore he arrived at the age of sixteen he had pub lished an cdition of Marcianus Capella. In 1598 he accompanied the famous Barnevelt on his em bassy to the court of Henri IV., and won the esteem of that monarch. At the age of twenty four he was made advocate-general, and in 1613 settled at Rotterdam. After the synod of Dort having warmly espoused the views of the Anni Mans, he \vas condenmed to perpetual imprison ment in the castle of Louvestein ( June 6, 1610), where for a year and a half he suffered great hard ships, till his wife enabled him to effect his escape in a book-chest. He retired to France, where he was well received, and had a pension assigned to him by Louis XIII. After spending eleven studious years in France, during which he still suffered per secutions from his unrelenting enemies the Calvin ists, he returned to Holland, from which he was once more driven by the violence of his theological opponents. In 1634 Christina, Queen of Sweden, appointed him her ambassador to the French court, where he again resided for ten years. Being per mitted to resign this appointment, he intended to return from Stockholm to his native country, but was shipWrecked, during his voyage, on the coast of Pomerania. He continued his journey by land, but died of fatigue and exposure at Rostock, Aug. 28, 1645, and was buried at Delft. It is certain that he died in the faith of Christ, although the same furious malice which had embittered his life strove to blacken his deathbed by the assertion that he had died a Socinian. He was frequently accused both of popery and Socinianism, but it is probable, both from his own writing,s, and from the facts adduced by J. Clericus at the end of his edition of the De Veritate, that the Anglican church, the liturgy of which he specially admired, received a larger share of his approval than any other.
As a theologian Grotius stands very high, and as a commentator on the Bible deserves the first rank among his contemporaries, although sectarian animosity caused his merits to be for a long time depreciated, and almost ignored. He was particu
cularly successful in illustrating the meaning of various passages from the classical parallels sup plied by his immense learning. Simple explana tion is always his main object, and he makes it chiefly depend on history and philology, in which method he was followed by Ernesti. He was one of the first to reject altogether the irregularities and mysticisms of Patristic and medixval exegesis ; and (in strong contrast to his fellow-countryman Cocceius) he always proceeds on the maxim that the inspired writers wrote with the intention of being understood. His clear judgtnent and strong good sense led him, on this ground, to acquiesce for the most part in the primary and obvious , meaning, which he learnedly elucidates by the ordinary canons of criticism. As long as keen acumen, moderation, liberality, and learning are valued, so long will the commentaries of Grotius be read with a respectful appreciation, as having been among the first to recall the science of Bibli cal hermeneutics into the domain of erudition and common sense, and rescue it from the hands of superstitious, arbitrary, and fanciful allegorists. , His chief theological works are the De Veritate relig. Christiana, 1627, which has been repro duced in a vast number of editiong and transla tions ; the Defensio fia'el catholicge de satisfactione Christi, Leyden, 16 t] ; and especially the Anna tationes ad Vetus et Novurn 7kstanienhenz, first pub blished, in various parts, at Paris, between the years 1641 and 165o, and afterwards republished by Vogel and Doederlein. There is an edition of them by Moody, 2 VO1S. .110, Lond. t727. The entire theological works of Grotius were published under the title Opera Theologica, Amsterdam, 1679, and Basle, 1731 (See Bayle, Dkt. Vii. 270, seqq.; Herzog, Encyk/. s. v.; Hallam, La. of Europe, ii. 356, etc.; Horne's hztrod. ii. 228 ; Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctrines, Engl. Tr., ii. passim ; 13utler, Life of Grotius, Lond. 1827, etc.) —F. W. F.