, son of the above Henry, was born at Heidelberg the 27th of September
, son of the above Henry, was born
at Heidelberg the 27th of September 1618, at which time
his father was deputy at the synod of Dort. He went
through his studies at Groningen with great success; and
being desirous to acquire knowledge in the Oriental languages, removed to Embden in 1638, to improve himself
under the rabbi Gamprecht Ben Abraham. He came over
to England in 1640, where he became acquainted with
many persons of the greatest note; he preached here, and
was ordained a priest of the church of England by Dr.
Prideaux, bishop of Worcester. He had once resolved to
pass his life in England, but afterwards accepted the Hebrew professorship at Groningen, offered him upon the
death of Goraarus. He entered upon this office the 13th
of January 1643, the very day that Samuel des Marets was
installed in the professorship of divinity, which had been
held by the same Gomarus. Alting was admitted doctor
of philosophy the 21st of October 1645, preacher to the
academy in 1647, and doctor and professor of divinity in
1667. He had visited Heidelberg in 1662, where he received many marks of esteem from the elector Palatine,
Charles Lewis, who often solicited him to accept of the
professorship of divinity, but he declined this offer. In a
little time a misunderstanding arose betwixt him and Samuel des Marets, his colleague, owing to a difference in
their method of teaching, and in many points in their principles. Alting kept to the scriptures, without meddling
with scholastic divinity: the first lectures which he read at
his house upon the catechism, drew such vast crowds of
hearers, that, for want of room in his own chamber, he was
obliged to make use of the university hall. His colleague
was accustomed to the method and logical distinctions of
the schoolmen; had been a long time in great esteem, had
published several books, and to a sprightly genius had added
a good stock of learning; the students who were of that
country adhered to him, as the surest way to obtain church
preferment, for the parishes were generally supplied with
such as had studied according to his method. This was
sufficient to raise and keep up a misunderstanding betwixt
the two professors. Alting had great obstacles to surmount:
a majority df voices and the authority of age were on his
adversary’s side. Des Marets gave out that Alting was an
innovator, and one who endeavoured to root up the boundaries which our wise forefathers had made between truth
and falsehood; he accordingly became his accuser, and
charged him with one-and-thirty erroneous propositions.
The curators of the university, without acquainting the
parties, sent the information and the answers to the divines
of Leyden, desiring their opinion. The judgment they
gave is remarkable: Alting was acquitted of all heresy, but
his imprudence was blamed in broaching new hypotheses;
on the other hand, Des Marets was censured for acting
contrary to the laws of charity and moderation. The latter
would not submit to this judgment, nor accept of the silence which was proposed. He insisted on the cause being
heard before the consistories, the classes, and the synods;
but the heads would not consent to this, forbidding all
writings, either for or against the judgment of the divines
of Leyden; and thus the work of Des Marets, entitled
“Audi et alteram partem,
” was suppressed. This contest
excited much attention, and might have been attended with
bad consequences, when Des Marets was called to Leyden,
but he died at Groningen before he could take possession of
that employment. There was a kind of reconciliation effected
betwixt him and Alting before his death: a clergyman of
Groningen, seeing Des Marets past all hopes of recovery,
proposed it to him; and having his consent, made the same
proposal to Alting, who answered, that the silence he had
observed, notwithstanding the clamours and writings of his
adversary, shewed his peaceable disposition; that he was
ready to come to an agreement upon reasonable terms, but
that he required satisfaction for the injurious reports disseminated against his honour and reputation; and that he
could not conceive how any one should desire his friendship, whilst he thought him such a man as he had represented him to be. The person, who acted as mediator,
some time after returned, with another clergyman, to Alting, and obtained from him a formulary of the satisfaction
he desired. This formulary was not liked by Des Marets,
who drew up another, but this did not please Alting: at
last, however, after some alterations, the reconciliation was
effected; the parties only retracted the personal injuries,
and as to the accusations in point of doctrine, the accuser
left them to the judgment of the church. Alting, however,
thought he had reason to complain, even after he was delivered from so formidable an adversary. His complaint
was occasioned by the last edition of Des Marets’s system,
in which he was very ill treated: he said, his adversary
should have left no monuments of the quarrel; and that
his reconciliation had not been sincere, since he had not
suppressed such an injurious book. The clergy were continually murmuring against what they called innovations;
but the secular power wisely calmed those storms, which
the convocations and synods would have raised,
threatening to interdict those who should revive what had obtained
the name of the Maresio-Altingian controversy. Alting
enjoyed but little health the last three years of his life;
and being at length seized with a violent fever, was carried
off in nine days, at Groningen, August 20, 1679. His
works, which consist of dissertations on various points of
Hebrew and Oriental antiquities; commentaries on many
of the books of the Bible; a Syro-Chaldaic Grammar; a
treatise on Hebrew punctuation, &c. &c. were collected in
5 vols. fol. and published by Balthasar Boeker, Amst. 1687,
with a life by the same editor.