or VONSTRUS CONRAD, born at Cologne on the 19th of July 1569, was the son of a dyer who had secretly adopted the Protestant faith. Having received a good preliminary education, he in 1587 entered the College of St Lawrence at Cologne. After lecturing at Geneva, he was appointed professor of theology at Steinfurt, where he continued till 1610, when he succeeded Arminius in the professorship of theology at Leyden. Here he composed his Tractatus Theologicus de Deo, sive de Natura et Attributis Dei. This brought on him the accusation of heresy, and engaged both individuals and universities in the controversy. James the First drew up a large catalogue of the heresies which it contained, and caused the work to be burned in London. He moreover informed the States, that if they did not dismiss Vorstius, none of his subjects would be permitted to visit Leyden; and such was the odium raised against him from other quarters, that he was ultimately dismissed from his office, and banished by the States of Holland from their territory. After spending two years in concealment, he received an asylum from the Duke of Holstein, who had assigned to the dispersed followers of Arminius a piece of ground to build a town. Vorst was an active, industrious, honest man, who thought more of independence than he did of place. He died shortly after at Tonningen, on the 29th of September 1622, at the age of fifty-three.