That, after the year 1640, he took no offence at the use of images in churches, or at prayers for the dead:[056]

That, he thought the bishops of Rome may be in error, but cannot long remain in it, if they adhere to the universal church;—­this seems to presuppose the church’s infallibility:[057]

[Sidenote:  CHAP.  XII.]

That in the opinion of Grotius; fasting was early used in the church; the observance of Lent was a very early practice:  the sign of the cross had something respectable in it; the fathers held virginity a more perfect state than marriage; and the celibacy of the priests conformable to the antient discipline of the church:[058]

And

“that those, who shall read the decrees of the Council of Trent, with a mind disposed to peace, will find that every thing is wisely explained in them:  and agreeable to what is taught by the Scriptures and the antient fathers."[059]

It is certain, that Grotius was intimate with Father Petau, a Jesuit, inferior to none of his society, in genius and learning; that the good father used all his endeavours to convert Grotius to the Roman Catholic religion; and was, at length, so much persuaded of his friend’s catholicity, that, when he heard of his death, he said prayers for the repose of his soul.[060]

[Sidenote:  XII. 3.  His Project of Religious Pacification.]

As the religion of Grotius was a problem to many, Menage wrote the following Epigram upon it:  the sense of it is, that—­

    “As many sects claimed the religion of Grotius, as the towns, which
    contended for the birth of Homer.”

        Smyrna, Rhodos, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenae,
          Siderei certant vatis de patria Homeri: 
        Grotiadae certant de religione, Socinus,
          Arrius, Arminius, Calvinus, Roma, Lutherus.

XII. 3.

Grotius’s Project of Religious Pacification.

A wish for religious peace among Christians grew with the growth and strengthened with the strength of Grotius.  It was known, before his imprisonment at Louvestein, that he entertained these sentiments:  he avows them in the dedication to Lewis XIII. of his treatise de Jure Belli et Pacis.

“I shall never cease,” he says in a letter to his brother,[061] “to use my utmost endeavours for establishing peace among Christians; And, if I should not succeed, it will be honourable to die in such an enterprise.”  “I am not the only one, who has conceived such projects,” he writes in another letter to his brother:[062] “Erasmus, Cassander; Wicelius and Casaubon had the same design.  La Meletiere is employed at present in it.  Cardinal de Richelieu declares that he will protect the coalition; and he is such a fortunate man, that he never undertakes any thing, in which he does