Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/765

ARMINIUS 729 general soon confirmed the decree of the synod. The Remonstrants were deprived of their sa- cred and civil offices ; their preachers were banished if they did not renounce all exercise of their ecclesiastical functions; many went with Episcopius to Antwerp, others to Holstein, others to France, &c. After Prince Maurice's death (1625) their banished clergy began to return. Amsterdam and Rotterdam became their chief seats in Holland ; the former city allowed them to build a church in 1630, and since that time they have not been molested. Episcopius published at Antwerp in 1622 the Remonstrants' Confession of Faith, which was widely circulated and held in high repute; but he expressly guarded against its being taken as of binding authority. He became in 1634 the first professor of theology in their gymnasium at Amsterdam, where Curcellseus, Pollenburg, Limborch, Le Clerc, Cattenburgh, Wetstein, &c., have also been professors. These and others set aside human confessions and took the Bible alone as their guide, ascribing special importance to its practical directions. They denied the ordinary doctrine of original sin, modified the doctrine of the Trinity, and some of them were regarded as closely allied with the Socinians. Arminianism has been widely prevalent in the established church of England from the time of Laud to the present ; but under this common name have been ranged many shades of doctrine, Trinitarian, Pelagian, Socin- ian, &c., agreeing in little except their oppo- sition to Calvinism. After the rise of Method- ism, Whitefield and others avowed themselves distinctively Calvinistic, while "Wesley and his followers embraced the views of Arminius. The most complete work of Arminian theol- ogy in English, and the text book prescribed for Methodist Episcopal preachers in the Uni- ted States, is the " Theological Institutes " of the Rev. Richard Watson. The Lutherans, Unitarians, General Baptists, and Free-will Baptists, many in the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, and the Wesleyan Methodist churches, are all classed as Armin- ians, in the sense of being opposed to the Cal- vinistic doctrine of predestination. ARMINIUS (in German improperly called Hermann), prince of the Cherusci, a German tribe, and the liberator of Germany, born about 16 B. C. In his youth he became a Roman citizen of the equestrian order, and served on the Danube as leader of an auxiliary body of the Cherusci. On his return, finding his country smarting under the oppressions of the Roman commander Varus, he organized an extensive conspiracy. Professing great friendship for Va- rus, and admiration for Roman civilization, he induced the general to distribute a large part of his force in small detachments among different tribes, under the plea of maintaining better order among the Germans. The news, true or false, of an insurrection having reached the Romans, Varus marched in October, A. D. 9, from the Weser toward the Teutoburg forest (now partly in the principality of Lippe and partly in Prus- sia). Arminius, against whom Varus had in vain been warned, now gave the signal for in- surrection. The Romans scattered in the in- terior were murdered, and the main body, which was encumbered with vast trains of baggage and camp followers, found itself sur- rounded on all sides. The Romans fought their way for three days, until almost all were exterminated, Varus taking his own life. From among the prisoners, the chiefs, civil and mili- tary, were sacrificed to the gods, the rest en- slaved. This destruction of three Roman le- gions filled Rome with grief and shame. For several days Augustus would only utter the words, "Varus, give me back my legions!" More than four years elapsed before Germani- cus marched from Gaul to avenge the fallen; he advanced into Germany, but returned, after a short campaign, the same year. Among the Germans dissensions soon prevailed. Arminius carried off Thusnelda (celebrated afterward in German minstrelsy), daughter of Segestes, a Germanic chief friendly to the Romans, and married her, but she soon fell again into the hands of her father. Next year (15) Germani- cus entered with fresh troops, relieved Seges- tes, who was besieged by Arminius, and liber- ated him, but Thusnelda was made a Roman slave. Arminius now called the Cherusci and other tribes to arms. Germanicus led against him 80,000 men in three divisions, and a large fleet on the Weser and the Ems. Ar- minius retreated until he had drawn the Ro- mans into narrow passes, and then attacked them with such fury that Germanicus, having lost his cavalry, was obliged to retreat, and reached his vessels with difficulty ; four legions under Cajcina scarcely escaped total destruc- tion previous to crossing the Rhine. The next spring Germanicus returned with an army of 100,000 men and about 1,000 vessels on the rivers. Beyond the Weser, between the pres- ent towns of Hameln and Rinteln, on a plain called Woman's Meadow, was fought the great- est battle between the Germans and Romans. The Germans were beaten, but nevertheless renewed the struggle the next day, and obliged the victorious Romans to retreat. This was the last time that Roman armies invaded Germany beyond the Rhine, and Arminius is therefore justly called the liberator. According to a le- gend, he disappeared in a mysterious manner during an interview on a half-built bridge with his brother Flavus, who remained attached to the Romans and tried to persuade Arminius to return to them. But history says that Arminius, being proclaimed chief by the Cherusci and nu- merous other tribes, attacked Marbod (Marobo- duus), chief of the Marcomanni, his rival in pre- tensions to supreme power, who was supported by Inguiomer, the uncle of Arminius. After a terrible struggle in Saxony, and a great undecided battle, Marbod was abandoned by many of his partisans, returned to Bohemia, and finally fled to the Romans, leaving Armin-