SAMUEL DE, one of the most celebrated divines of the reformed church, was born in Picardy in the year 1599. In 1620 he was settled in the church of Laon; but in 1624 he accepted a call to that of Sedan, to succeed James Cappel in the office of pastor and professor of divinity. Having soon afterwards obtained leave of absence from his flock, he visited Holland, where he was admitted to the degree of doctor of divinity at Leyden, in 1625. From Holland he made a voyage to England, and, after a short stay in that country, returned to Sedan, where he commenced his labours in the divinity chair. These he continued for about seven years with reputation to himself, but not without being sometimes involved in troubles, which he bore with commendable resolution. In 1631, he was made chaplain to the army of the Duke de Bouillon in Holland; but that nobleman having married a Roman Catholic lady, M. de Marets advised him to adhere steadily to the Protestant faith, on which account he incurred the displeasure of the duchess. Thus circumstanced, he received, in 1635, an invitation to become pastor to the church of Bois-le-Duc, with which he complied; and in the following year he was appointed professor of the Schola Illustris of the same city. The duties of this office he discharged with such diligence and success, that in 1640 the curators of the university of Franeker sent him the offer of a professorship, which he declined; but two years afterwards he accepted a similar offer from the university of Groningen, to which his services were devoted for upwards of thirty years. In 1652, he was made sole minister of the Walloon church at Groningen, where until that time he had gratuitously preached once every Sunday to assist the pastor. Influenced by the fame of his extraordinary merits, the magistrates of Berne, in 1661, offered him the chair of professor of divinity at Lausanne, with considerable emoluments; but he declined this offer; and his death happened before he took possession of a similar charge at Leyden, of which he had accepted. His System of Divinity is exceedingly methodical, and has been made use of at other academies. At the end of it may be found a chronological list of all his works. Their number is prodigious, and their variety shows the extent of his labour, if not the strength of his talents.