RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Voluntary Missionary Society Voss, Gerard Jan
banished. He accordingly fled from Gouda and remained in hiding, chiefly in or near Utrecht, until 1622, when refuge was afforded him by the duke of Holstein. Shortly before his death he is reported to have drawn up a confession of faith in which he openly professed Socinianism.
Vorst was the author of over forty works, and after his death his Dutch friends published his commentary on the Pauline epistles (Amsterdam, 1631). His son Willem Hendrijk (d. Oct. 1, 1652), who was deeply versed in Rabbinical literature, was Remonstrant preacher at Leyden after 1642, and was also suspected of Socinianism. Another son, Guernerus, was also a Remonstrant preacher at Doccum in 1632, but was banished for five years in 1634. In the following year he returned, only to be arrested and rebanished, after which he was a preacher at Hoorn (1641), Leyden (1653), and Rotterdam (1658), where he became pastor emeritus in 1680 (d. Mar., 1682). He edited his father’s Doodsteek der calvinistische predestinatie. Descendants of Vorst were preachers in Dutch Remonstrant churches as late as 1716. (S. D. vAN VEEN.) BrpuiogRapuy: The oration of M. Walther was published
at Fredirickstein, 1624. Consult: B. Glasius, Godgeleerd
Nederland, iii. 550-557, ’s Hertogenbosch, 1856; A.
Schweizer, in Theologische Jahrbiicher, 1856-57; C. Sepp,
Het godgeleerd Onderwijs in Nederland, i. 181-214, Leyden,
1873; H. C. Rogge, in De Gids, 1873, vol. ii.; J. Reitsma,
Honderd Jaren uit de geschiedenis der Hervorming en der
Hervormde Kerk in Friesland, pp. 342-362, Leeuwarden, 1876; Bayle, Dictionary, v. 507-514.
VOSS, GERARD JAN: Dutch humanist and theologian; b. near Heidelberg in the spring of 1577; d. at Amsterdam Mar. 17, 1649. He was educated at the universities of Dort and Leyden (1595-98), where he wrote his first work, Oratio panegirica de felict expeditione exercitus federate Belgice, ductu principis Maurtit (Leyden, 1597). In 1599 he began to lecture at Leyden on Aristotle, but within the year was called to Dort as rector of the Latin school; in 1615 he became regent of the college of the States-General at Leyden, and seven years later professor at the university of the same city, while from 1632 until his death he was professor at the University of Amsterdam. At Dort he published, in 1606, his six books of Instituttones oratorie. At Leyden he abstained from the controversies between the Arminians and their adversaries, the Gomarists, thus drawing a storm of indignation upon himself, so that, in 1619, the curators of the university decided that both Voss and his assistant, Kaspar Barlzeus, should be removed from their positions. Voss’ Theses theologice de vartis doctrine Christiane capitibus (Leyden, 1615) and Historie de controversiis quas Pelagius ejusque reliquie moverunt libri septenr (Amsterdam, 1618) were regarded as containing views out of harmony with those of the contra- Remonstrants, especially as Voss was known to be in sympathy with some points in the five articles of the Remonstrants. By resigning Voss escaped suspension, and the curators appointed him, in 1622, professor of oratory and chronology, transferring him to the chair of Greek three years later. In 1632 Voss accepted a call to the new university of Amsterdam, his inaugural address, De historia utilitate, following the lines laid down in his De historicis
Voss Vows
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Grecis libri quatuor (Leyden, 1624) and De historicis Latinis libri tres (1627). A complete edition of the works of Voss was published at Amsterdam in 1695-1701. As a grammarian he won distinction by his Ludolphi Lithocomi syntaxis Latina ex recensione Vossii (1618), which remained for more than two centuries the standard Latin grammar in Holland. In historical theology he treated the history of dogma, his chief works here being Dissertationes tres de tribus symbolis, apostolico, Athanasiano et Constantinopolitano (Amsterdam, 1642) and Libri quatuor de theologia gentili et physiologia Christiana, sive de origine et progressu idololatrie deque nature mirandis quibus homo adducitur ad Deum (1642); De baptismo disputationes viginti (Amsterdam, 1648). His Tractatus theologict appeared posthumously (1701). His letters were edited by P. Colomies under the title Vossit et clarorum virorum ad eum epistole (Augsburg, 1691). His “‘ Works” were collected in 6 vols., Amsterdam, 1695-1701.
Of the eight children of Voss who reached maturity, Matthaeus (b. about 1610; d. Jan. 20, 1646) was historian of the States-General of Holland and Zeeland; Dionysius (b. Mar. 11, 1612; d. Oct. 24, 1633) declined, in 1632, a professorship of history and rhetoric at Dorpat, and in the following year was appointed historiographer to the king of Sweden; and Gerard (b. 1619; d. Mar. 27, 1640) edited an excellent critical edition of Velleius Paterculus. The only son to survive his father was Isaac (b. 1618; d. Feb. 21, 1689), who was at first librarian at Amsterdam, and in 1648 became Greek tutor and librarian to Queen Christina of Sweden. In 1670 he went permanently to England, where he died as canon of Windsor. (S. D. van VEEN.) BrsuiocrapHy: C. E. Jécher, Allgemeines Gelehrtenlexikon,
iv. 1716 sqq., Leipsic, 1751; H. Tollius, Oratio de G. J.
Vossio, Amsterdam, 1778; J. G. de Crane, De Vosstorum
Juniorumque familia, Franeker, 1820; M. Siegenbeek,
Geschiedenis der Leidsche Hoogeschool, i. 108, ii. 110, Ley-
den, 1829-32; Illustris Amstelodami Athenei Memorabilia,
ed. D. J. van Lennep, pp. 79 sqq., Amsterdam, 1832;
KL, xii. 1122-24,
VOSSIUS, vesh-i’/us, GERHARD: Roman Catholic provost of Tongern, papal prothonotary; b. about the middle of the sixteenth century; d. at Liége Mar. 25, 1609. He was enabled to make researches in the libraries of Italy which resulted in the accumulation of materials on patristics. As a result he acquired great reputation by his edition and Latin translation of the sermons of Chrysostom (Rome, 1580); an edition of part of Theodoret’s Works (1585); his editions of the Gesta et monumenta Gregori IX. (1586); of the works of Gregory Thaumaturgus (Mainz, 1604), and Ephraem Syrus (Rome, 1589-98), of St. Bernard’s De consideratione (with commentary; 1594), and other patristic works. Of his personal life nothing further is known. Bisuiocrapuy: J. F. Foppeus, Bibliotheca Belgica, i. 362,
Brussels, 1739; KZ, xii. 1122.
VOTAW, CLYDE WEBER: Congregationalist; b. at Wheaton, Ill., Feb. 6, 1864. He was educated at Amherst College (A.B., 1888), Yale Divinity School (graduated, 1891), and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1896); he was reader and tutor in Biblical literature in the University of Chicago (1892-96), instructor in New-Testament literature
(1896-1900); assistant professor of Biblical Greek (1900-06), becoming associate professor of New- Testament literature (1906). In 1905-07 he was also acting professor of New-Testament interpretation in Chicago Theological Seminary. He is associate editor of The Biblical World, and has written Inductive Studies in the Founding of the Christian Church (Hartford, Conn., 1892); The Use of the Infinitive in Biblical Greek (Chicago, 1896); Inductive Studies in the Primitive Era of Christianity (Chicago, 1898); The Apostolic Age (New York, 1905); and Best Books for Old and New Testament Study (with J. E. McFadyen; 1909).
VOWS.
I. Inthe Old Testament. Ethics of the Vow (§ 3). II. In the Church. Roman Catholic Doc- Basal Ideas (§ 1). trine (§ 4). New-Testament Indi- Evangelical Views cations (§ 2). (§ 5).
I. In the Old Testament: The Hebrew word for “ vow,” nadar, is probably connected with the word nazar, “‘ dedicate’’; for a vow of abstinence the word is ’tssar. The vow, common to the Hebrew and other religions, takes in the Old Testament two forms: (1) a gift to God for a wish granted, a danger escaped, or a difficult undertaking accomplished; or (2) a promise to abstain, until some purpose is accomplished or for some definite time, from some enjoyment or pleasure. This abstinence may be conceived as a self-applied stimulus, or it may be a voluntary sacrifice made to conciliate the deity’s good will. The first form is the most common in the Old Testament. Instances are: Jacob (Gen. XXviil. 20 sqq.), Jephthah (Judges xi. 30 sqq.), Hannah (I Sam. i. 11), Absalom (II Sam. xv. 8), cf. also Ps. Ixvi. 13; Job xxii. 27. For a vow of abstinence [imposed by, another, the taboo] cf. I Sam. xiv. 24; Ps. cxxxil. 8 sqq. The latter has close parallels in Arabic custom and in the Koran. A vow of this sort is implicit in II Sam. xi. 9 sqq. Finally, here belongs the Naziritic vow of abstinence from drink and from trimming of the hair, again paralleled in Arabic custom and in that of other peoples.
The positive vow, as the cases show, may involve very varied issues and circumstances. The most common form is a definite offering promised for a definite benefit. In the case of Jephthah (q.v.) it was a human sacrifice [probably so in intent] for a victory over the enemy; usually it was some other object or service. The severest form of the vow was the ban (see Law, Hesrew, Civin, AnD CrIM- INAL). Often, particularly in the Psalms, the vow of sacrifice is descriptive of the thanks of the pious for answer to prayer.
It was a natural consequence, as vows were made in the service of religion, that they should come under religious regulation, as in the Pentateuch (Lev. xxii. 17 sqq.; Num. xv. 1 sqq.; ef. Ezek. xlvi. 12; especially Lev. xxvii. and Num. xxx.). Provision was made for the redemption of the vowed object in case its use were forbidden by legislation, and that according to a definite tariff. Such cases arose from vow of house or field which in the jubilee year would ordinarily return to the original owner or his heir, and of unclean beasts or of persons. Num. xxx. provides for the nullifying, or the sanc-