II. Organization of the Synod.— The Statefr-GcBval ordered the delegates to the synod to be choKS ts B- lows. Each province was to call a provinckl lyw^ fh>m which six persons, of whom three or four ifecB be pastors, were to be dioeen as delegates to the erooi Holland and Utrecht, in which the Anniniaai ««* numerous, were excepted from this provisioii. hv* ordered that the provincial synod of HoDand «b^ be made up of four ordinary delegates fhnn e»A Cla- sis in which no separation on account of the dispate bi taken place ; while each Classb in which sack tsf^ tion had taken place should send two CaliriBfali oi two Arminians. The provincial synod, tiias cms- tuted, was to select its delegates to the nationali^v^ In Utrecht and South Holland several AmlaiM &> vines (among tiiem Uitenbogaert) were deposed f» the ministry before the selection of deleipites wu ^ lowed. Nevertheless, three of the delegatsi tm Utrecht were Arminians, and " they were te v^^ Arminians who had seats in the synod.'* Tbey vei
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red to sit on condition ** that whOe the affaira of Kemonstrants were under discussion they should listarb the proceedings of the synod by unseason- interruptions, and not acquaint their party with :hm^ done or said in the synod which concerned r cause.'* These three, nooreover, did not remain : in the 83mod.
he synod, when organized, consisted, jCn^, of the ities from the States, who properly constituted the onal synod, viz. 89 ministers, 5 professors, and 18 ag elders ; and, tecondfy^ of 24 foreign divines. I Ststes-Greneral were represented by lay comrois- ers, of whom Daniel Heinsius was secretary. The f Protestant kingdom in Europe that sent deputies iie synod was Great Britain. Besides these, and divines of the United Provinces, there were dele- ds from Switzerland, the Palatinate, Hesse, Wet- lu, Emden, and Bremen. The Lutheran church- were not represented. No delegates ftt>m France re present, as Louis XIII forbade Rivet and Do- olin, who were chosen as deputies by the French >testants, to attehd.
This synod was, therefore, not a council of the Pro- tant churches of Europe, nor even of the Reformed iurch of Europe, but a Dutch national synod, to lich Reformed theologians were invited froln vari- s parts of Europe. " Whosoever casts his eye over e list of the foreign divines that composed this last Protestant councils will find scarcely one man who id not distinguished himself by his decided opposi- m to the doctrine of conditional predestination, and tio was not consequently disqualified from acting the irt of an impartial judge of the existing religious dif- rences, or that of a peace-maker.*' III. Acts of the iSynocf. — The synod was opened ov. 18, 1618, with public worship in the church of »ort. At the second session, John Bogermann, a istor in Friesland, was chosen president, with Jaco- U8 Rolandus, of Amsterdam, and Herman Fankelius, f Middleburg, as assistants, or vice-presidents. Se- astian Dammann, of Zutphen, and Festus Hommius, f Leyden, were appointed secretaries. We cannot go nto detail as to the course of procedure ; the sources f information are announced at the end of this article. V summary account, from the Calvinistic point of riew, may be found in Dr. Miller's Introductory Euay o Scott*8 Synod of Dort (Presbyt. Board of Publica- ;ion) ; and another, from the Arminian point of view, n Watson, Theological Dictionary^ s. v. Dort (chiefly ;aken from Nichols, Protestantitm and Arminiamsm). The following short statement is partly from the sources just named, and parti}' translated from Heppe, in Her- Eog's Ead-Encyhlopddk, Hi, 486 sq.
At the itdrd session the credentials of the deputies were received. In the/oiirfA it was ordered that Epis- copius and twelve other Remonstrants should be cited to appear in a fortnight to state and defend their views. "In the mean time the Remonstrants, without know- ing the resolution of the synod, had deputed three of their body from Leyden, to obtain leave for their ap- pearance at the synod, in a competent number and under safe-conduct, to defend their cause. On mak- ing their request known to the lay commissioners, they were informed of the resolution which had passed the synod only the preceding day. To which they replied that it was unreasonable to cite those to justify them- selves who were both ready and willing to come of their own accord ; and that, if they persisted in pro- ceeding with their plan of citation, they would by that act famish just cause, not only to them, but to all good men, to entertain strange notions and suspicions of the «y™>^cal procieedings. Not being permitted to choose those men ftom the& own body whom they deemed the best qualified to state and defend their cause, they ac- counted it an additional hardship that their enemies shoald assume that unlawful authority to themselves. Bat neither at that time nor afterward, when they
wished to add two of the most accomplished of the brethren to their number, were their representations successful.'*
During this fortnight the synod considered various matters apart ftom the Remonstrant question, ordered the preparation of a new version of the Bible, ordained rules for catechization, and prepared instructions for the Dutch missionaries in the East Indies, etc
At the twenty-second session the Remonstrants ap- peared, with Episcopius at their head. After some delay, Episcopius defended the Arminian doctrine in a discourse which produced a profound impression. Dis- putes arose in subsequent sessions as to the topics to be treated, and the order in which they should be taken up. In the session of December 10 the Remon- strants gave great offence by reading a document fnstn the pen of Episcopius, in which it was declared that '* the Remonstrants did not ^wn the members of the synod for lawful judges, because the great majority of them, with the exception of the foreign divines, were their professed enemies ; and that most of the inland divines then assembled, as well as those whose repre- sentatives they were, had been guilty of the unhappy schism which was made in the churches of Holland. The second part contained the twelve qualifications of which the Remonstrants thought a well-constituted synod should consist. The observance of the stipula- tions proposed in it they would gladly have obtained from the synod, averring that they were exceedingly equitable, and that the Protestants had ofiTered similar conditions for the guidance of the Papists, and the Calvinists for the direction of the Lutherans." On January 14 the Remonstrants were dismissed fhrni the synod. Their views, as gathered from their own writ- ings, were subsequently passed upon and condemned.