DORT

The Synod of Dort was convened to compose the troubles occasioned by the celebrated Arm in i an controversy. Arm in i us, profe or of divinity at Leyden, had received his theological education at Geneva. After much profound meditation on the abstruse subject of predestination, he became di atisfied with Calvin’s doctrine of the absolute decrees of God , in respect to the salvation and perdition of man; and, while he admitted the eternal prescience of the Deity, he held, with the Roman Catholic Church, that no mortal is rendered finally unhappy, by an eternal and invincible decree; and that the misery of those who perish comes from themselves. Many who were eminent for their talents and learning, and some who filled high situations in Holland, embraced his opinions; but, apparently at least, a great majority sided against them. The most active of these was Gomar, the colleague of Arm in i us in the profe orship. Unfortunately, politics entered into the controversy. Most of the friends of Arm in i us were of the party which opposed the politics of the Prince of Orange; while, generally, the adversaries of Arm in i us were favourable to the views of that prince. Barneveldt and Grotius, two of the most respectable partisans of Arm in i us, were thrown into prison for their supposed practices against the state. The former perished on the scaffold; the latter, by his wife’s addre , escaped from prison. While these disturbances were at the highest, Arm in i us died. On his decease, the superintendence of the party devolved to Episcopius, who was, at that time, profe or of theology at Leyden, and universally esteemed for his learning, his judgment, and his eloquence. The Arm in i an cause prospering under him, the opposite party took the alarm, and, in 1618, a synod was called at Dort, by the direction, and under the influence, of Prince Maurice. It was attended by deputies from the United Provinces, and from the Churches of England, He e, Bremen, Switzerland, and the Palatinate. The synod adopted the Belgic Confe ion, decided in favour of absolute decrees, and excommunicated the Arminians. Its canons were published under the title of “Judicium Synodi national is reformat arum ecclesia rum habit i Dordrechti anno 1618 et 1619, de quinque doctrinæ capitibus, in ecclesiis Belgicis, con trovers is: Pro mulga tum VI. Maii MDCXIX. 4to.” It concludes the Sylloge Confe ionum, printed at the Clarendon pre .— Butler’s Confe ion of Faith.