Episcopalians, members of those churches which adopt the Episcopal form of Church government. See Episcopacy ; Methodist Episcopal Church ; Mo- ravians ; Lutheran Church ; England, Church OF ; Protestant Episcopal Church.
Episcopius. Simon (Dutch, Biischop), an emi- nent and learned Arminian theologian, was born in January, 1583, at Amsterdam, where he received his school education. In 1600 he went to the University of Leyden, where he took his degree of M.A. in 160G. He thenceforward devoted himself to the study of the- ology. "Earnestly," saj's Curcellaaus (in liis eulogy on Episcopius), "did he listen to the lectures of those very learned professors, Francis Gomarus, Luke Trel- catius, and James Arminius ; and in the exercises of debates and harangues, which thej^ commonly called theses, he left many of his equ;:ls far in the distance, and was highly esteemed as one worth}' of being call- ed to the ministry of the divine word. But when, es- pecially after the death of Trelcatius, that terrible dis- cussion on predestination, which afterwards agitated all Holland, tinallv arose, and was not only secretly carried on lietween the two professors, but also broke forth into open violence, our Episcopius became favor- ably inclined towards the Arminian doctrines. For this reason he received little favor from the pastors on the opposite side of the controversy', so that when the very illustrious councils of the state of Amsterdam, to whom the singular learning and pietj' of Episcopius had become known, would have invited him to become their preacher, these pastors, hy causing delaj'S, en- tirely frustrated the plans of the councils. Episcopi- us, disheartened at this affair, determined to leave the academy at Leyden, and in the year 1609 (in which year Arminius died) he betook himself to the Franeker Academy, belonging to the Frisii, incited especially by the fiime of that most illustrious man and learned pro- fessor of the sacred language, John Drusius. But there he displayed, as youths of a bold mind are wont, such a zeal in the theological discussions, that he gave not a little offence to Sil)randus Lubbertus, a professor of that academj'. Accordinglj', a few months after, he departed and came into France, where in a lirief space of time he obtained so fair a mastery of the French language that he not only understood it, but could speak it with considerable ease and ])urity. Finally, in the year IGIO, he returned to his native land, only to receive the same tokens of ill will." In that year he
was ordained pastor of Blej-swick, a village near Rdt* terdam. In ICll a colloquy was held at the Hague, by order of the States General, with a view to ending the agitating controversy between the Gomarists and Arminians, between six Remonstrant pastors and six Contra-Kemonstrants. Episcopius, as one of the six Remonstrants, displayed so much learning and skill that his fame spread through all the country. In 1612 he was appointed professor of theology in tlie Univer- sity of Leyden, as successor of Gomarus. Here his pre-eminent talents had full scope, and his reputation grew rapidly. The Gomarist controversy, however, waxed hotter and hotter ; the orthodoxy of Episcopi- us was called in question by his theological ojijionents ; and the rage of the Calvinistic party among the popu- lace even went so far as to threaten violence. In 1614 he went to Amsterdam to attend a baptism, and the minister, Ileyden, having stigmatized him as a heretic, he was saved from stoning only by the zeal of his friends. A blacksmith once ran after him with a hot iron with the cry, " Stop the Arminian disturber of the Church," and would i)robably have murdered him but for the interference of by-standers.
The Synod of Dort was held in 1618. See Dort. Episcopius was the chief spokesman of the Arminians. At the 23d session he delivered a discourse of great power, which is to be found in his Worls, in Limborch"s Vita Episcopii, and in Calder's Life of Episcopius (X. Y. 1837, chap. x). The synod condemned the Arminians, and by the aid of the civil government banished the Remonstrant ministers. Episcopius retired first to Antwerp, where he wrote his Responsio ad duas Petri Waddingii Jesvitie Ejnstolas (1621, on the Rule of Faith and on the Worship of Images) ; his celebrated Con- fessio Fidei Remmstrantium (Remonstrants' Confession of Faith, 1622 ; Opera, vol. iii) ; Antidoty.m, sice genu- ina Decl'tratio snit. Synodi Dordracence {Opera, vol. ii, I.ond. 1678). When the war between Spain and ths Netlierlands was renewed, Episcopius took refuge in France, residing chiefly in Paris (1621-1626). Here he published Paraphras's in cap. viii-xi Episi. ad Ro- manos (Paraphrase on Romans viii-xi. Opera, vol. i) ; Bodecherus Ineptitns (Bodechcrus the Simple ; a de- fence of the Remonstrants against the charge of So- cinianism ; Examen thesium J. Capdli (on the Calvin- istic and Arminian Controversy in Belgium) ; Tractatus de Libera ArUtrlo {Opera, vol. i) ; Correspondence with Joh. Cameron on Grace and Free Will (^Opera, vol. i). On the death of Prince :Maurice (1625) the persecution of the Remonstrants slackened, and it became safe for Episcopius to return to his country in 1626, when he became minister to the Remonstrants of Rotterdam. Here he imlAi^heA Ajwlogia jiro Confessione, etc. (Apol- og}' for the Confession of the Remonstrants), and other controversial tracts (Opera, vol. iii). In 1634 he was made rector of the newly-established college of the Re- monstrants at Amsterdam, ^^■here the rest of his life was spent in diligent and successful teaching, and in constant literary and pastoral activity. The fruits of his lectures appear in permanent form in his Lnstifutio- nes Theologies, lib. iv, which, however, was left unfin- ished, and published posthumously {Opera, vol. i) ; and also in Responsio ad Qucrstiones Theologicas Uiv (An- swers to 64 questions in theology proposed bv' stu- dents). He died April 4, 1643.